The Return
by yannaboo100
Summary: Gabriella was sick and tired of being the girl that always came in second place. She was over being the girl who was picked on, so she decided she was going to make a few changes.
1. The Return

_"I seriously thank God for summer vacation." Taylor said, closing her pink locker door. "I don't have to step foot in here until September."_

_Gabriella nodded, "I'm just glad we survived freshman year."_

_"It wasn't too bad."_

_"Yeah, for you. Freshamn year kind of sucked for me."_

_Taylor rolled her eyes, "Who's being dramatic, now?"_

_"Shut up. Are you coming to Danielle's party later?"_

_Taylor scowled at the question, "No thank you. I'd rather stab my eye out. I don't know how someone as nice as you hangs out with Danielle Asher."_

_Danielle Asher was Gabriella's best friend, since they were six. They met the first day of first grade and had instantly hit it off. Everyone had questioned their friendship, and for obvious reasons. The two were polar opposites. Danielle was blonde, Gabriella was brunette. Danielle loved sports, Gabriella had absolutely no idea how to throw a football. Danielle was tall and skinny. Gabriella was tall, and...not so skinny. Gabriella wouldn't say she was ugly, but on a scale of 1 to 10, Danielle was a 27. Everyone worshipped the ground Danielle walked on, while Gabriella was left in the dust. Long story short, Danielle was perfect, Gabriella was not._

_"Come on, Tay. Danielle isn't so bad."_

_"She isn't bad, she's horrible." Taylor said. "She's horrible to everyone and everything."_

_Gabriella shook her head, "No she is not." She closed her locker. "I have to go. Can you at least consider coming?"_

_"Absolutely not. But I really hope you enjoy yourself."_

_"I have to go meet Danielle."_

_"Have fun."_

_Gabriella walked off and turned the corner, looking for Danielle. She saw her standing against her locker. "Hey, Dani."_

_"Hey Gabriella. What's up?"_

_"Nothing. I was talking to Taylor."_

_"Ugh. I don't know why you waste your time talking to Taylor."_

_"Taylor is great. You two could be really good friends."_

_"I'd rather die than be friends with Taylor McKessie."_

_Gabriella was about to say something when someone walked over. "Hey Danielle."_

_Gabriella looked up and saw Troy Bolton standing next to her. She quickly looked down. Troy Bolton had only been the love of her life since she had first laid eyes on him._

_Danielle looked up, "Hey Troy. You know my friend, Gabriella, right?"_

_Troy looked over, "Yeah. She totally helped me in algebra last week."_

_"It's alright. Not everyone is cut out for logarithms."_

_Danielle rolled her eyes, "Right. Anyway, Troy, are you coming to my party?"_

_"Yeah. Wouldn't miss it for the world, Danielle. Everyone is coming."_

_Danielle smiled, "Yup. Gabriella, what time is your flight tomorrow? I hope you can stay out late?"_

_Troy raised a curious eyebrow, "Flight? Where you going?"_

_"Los Angeles." Gabriella replied. "I'm going to be out there for the summer."_

_"Really? That's so cool."_

_"Yeah, I can't wait."_

_Danielle rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not interesting anymore, G."_

_Gabriella frowned. "Harsh."_

_"Honest." Danielle corrected._

_Troy looked at his watch, "My brother is going to be pissed if I'm not outside in the next 5 minutes."_

_"Ok. Bye." Danielle gave Troy a kiss on the lips._

_Gabriella's stomach dropped to her feet. What the fuck was that? "You guys are dating?"_

_"Yeah." Troy replied._

_"I asked him out yesterday." Danielle explained. "Isn't that great, G?"_

_Gabriella stared at Danielle, intently. She had a look in her eye. Something mischievous, and taunting. Like she picked Troy out just to piss Gabriella off._

_"Yeah." Gabriella lied. "Fantastic, actually."_

_"Great. I knew out of everyone, you'd be the happiest."_

_Gabriella swallowed the urge to scream, "Well, I definitely am, Dani. Well, I have to go. I think my sister is waiting for me."_

_"Bye. See you tonight, Gabriella."_

_Gabriella just turned around and walked out of the building. She had to get out of there immediately._

_Gabriella had known Danielle for years. She'd seen Danielle steal female's boyfriends and crushes since 6th grade, but stealing the guy Gabriella had been pining for for years was a new low._

_She spotted her sister's black Audi in the parking lot and quickly sprinted over to it and got in._

_"Hey sister." Lola greeted._

_"Get me out of here." Gabriella ordered._

_"What?"_

_"Just drive, Lola!"_

_Lola took her keys put of the ignition. "No. Tell me what's wrong. You're visibly upset."_

_"Guess who Danielle is going out with?"_

_Lola shrugged, "I don't know. The girl had a good dating year. She went through everyone on the JV baseball team. Has she moved on to the lacrosse players? Or is she going in alphabetical order?"_

_"Troy Bolton." Gabriella answered._

_"Your Troy Bolton?"_

_"He isn't my Troy Bolton, but yeah. My Troy Bolton."_

_"That bitch."_

_"Its like she did that just to hurt me. The way she looked at me. It's like I'm not even her friend."_

_"Maybe they aren't dating." Lola said, trying to be optimistic._

_"They kissed right in front of me and Danielle said they were dating."_

_Lola frowned, "Gabs, I'm sorry."_

_"It's whatever. Let's just go home."_

_"At least we are going to Cali tomorrow, right?"_

_Gabriella nodded. They were going to LA. And she couldn't wait._

* * *

_Gabriella walked into Danielle's house later that evening with Lola by her side. She decided that she wasn't going to let Danielle's current relationship status ruin her day._

_"Danielle!" Gabriella greeted, spotting Danielle in the hallway._

_"Hey." Danielle greeted, back._

_"Can I talk to you?" Gabriella asked. "In private?"_

_"Can it wait?"_

_"No. It's important."_

_Danielle sighed, and pulled Gabriella into the guest bathroom. She locked the door. "What?"_

_"You and Troy?"_

_"Me and Troy, what?"_

_"When did you start dating him?"_

_Danielle sat atop of the counter, "I asked him out 2 days ago. Does it matter?"_

_"Did you forget that I've had a crush on him for, I don't know, forever?"_

_"You were serious about that crush thing?"_

_Gabriella nodded, "Yeah. When someone says they have a crush on someone, they tend to be serious."_

_"Gee Gabs, why don't you pee on him and mark your territory." Danielle teased. "This is high school! Don't get your panties in a bunch over a guy."_

_"But he isn't just some guy, Danielle!" Gabriella stated._

_"I think you're taking this too seriously. Troy and I aren't even as serious as you're insinuating."_

_"But out of the millions of guys that are in love with Danielle Asher, you pick the guy I like. It's fucked up."_

_"Look, Troy likes me and I like him. That's it. And it's not like your his type, anyway."_

_"What's his type, Danielle? Blonde?"_

_"Skinny."_

_Danielle had might as well punched Gabriella in the gut, because that's what it felt like she did. Danielle knew Gabriella had weight issues. "I knew you were a bitch, but I thought I got a pass from your wrath because I'm your best friend."_

_Danielle sighed, "You know I didn't mean it like that, G."_

_"How many ways can you call me fat without really meaning it, Danielle?"_

_Danielle threw her hands up in aggravation. "Sorry. Look, I'm sorry you feel so upset over all of this, but come on, you're being over dramatic."_

_Gabriella bit the inside of her cheek, "Apology accepted."_

_Danielle hopped off the counter. "Now let's go enjoy my party." She waltzed out of the bathroom, leaving Gabriella stunned._

_Gabriella stared at herself in the mirror. She was still trying to wrap her mind around what just happened. Danielle obviously didn't care that she just crushed Gabriella._

_A tear rolled down Gabriella's cheek. She quickly wiped it away. She refused to cry. Gabriella wrapped her hand around the locket around her neck. It had a picture of Danielle and Gabriella on the first day of school. Gabriella ripped it off and dropped it into the trashcan. She walked out of the bathroom._

_On her way out of the house, someone grabbed her hand. "Hey! Algebra girl."_

_Gabriella turned around, "Hi Troy."_

_"You leaving? The party just started."_

_"Yeah. I got a headache so I'm gonna go home. Plus I have to be early to go to L.A."_

_"Oh right. Well, I hope you feel better."_

_Gabriella smiled, "Thanks. Have a nice summer."_

_"You, too."_

_Gabriella started walking again and didn't stop until she was outside. Danielle's words were the nail in the coffin to their friendship. And for some strange reason, Gabriella wasn't upset._

_It was summer. And it was time to make some drastic changes._

* * *

Gabriella groaned as she put her sunglasses back on. It was way too bright and she was way too hungover to be starting school.

School. Gabriella shuddered as she looked at the school one more time. She missed her high school in L.A. She missed her friends in L.A. Being out there had been the best year of her life to date.

After spending the summer in Los Angeles, Gabriella begged her parents to let her stay with her Aunt Linda for the school year. She did not want to go back to Albuquerque, New Mexico to be Danielle Asher's bitch, and pretend like she was still her best friend.

While in Los Angeles, Gabriella made some changes about herself. The number one thing she changed: her weight. Spending months and months in the gym, everyday would do a person wonders. Someone who hadn't know Gabriella for years would have thought she was a super model.

She was so happy in California. Then her parents fucked it up by making her move back to New Mexico. In Gabriella's opinion, it was the dumbest idea on earth.

"Excuse me? Are you lost?"

Gabriella turned around. She was staring in the face of Troy Bolton. "Lost?"

"I've kind of been watching you wander aimlessly for the past three minutes." Troy explained. "You look a little lost."

"No, not lost. I was caught up in thought." Gabriella replied. "And I have a major headache."

"It's ok if you're lost. I won't tell anyone new girl didn't know where she was going."

"I'm serious. I wasn't lost." Gabriella insisted.

Troy laughed, "I'm totally joking. Relax."

"Right."

"First day here?"

Gabriella smirked. He obviously didn't know who she was. She could play the new girl for a few minutes. "Yeah."

"Cool. What's your name and where are you from?"

"Elle." Gabriella lied. "And I'm from L.A."

"That's cool, new girl."

"Are you the welcoming committee?"

"No. Just thought I'd be nice and make conversation."

"That's sweet of you."

"Oh stop it, you."

A loud bell went off. Gabriella rolled her eyes, "Well, Mr. Welcoming Committee, I have to get to class."

"What's your first class?"

Gabriella pulled her schedule out of her purse. She quickly scanned the paper. "Biology with Harrison. Room A-11."

Troy smiled, "Oh, we have first period together, new girl."

"Then I guess it's my lucky day."

"It is." Troy agreed. "I'll show you where it is."

Gabriella was about to say she knew where the classroom was, but decided against it. If Troy wanted to walk her to class, she wasn't going to stop him.

The two walked together to class, receiving strange looks from everyone that they passed by. What was Troy Bolton doing talking to a random girl?

"If looks could kill, I would probably be dead by now." Gabriella joked, looking around the hall.

"Not too many girls talk to me, at least while the girlfriend is near." Troy said.

"Well who's your girlfriend?"

"Her name's Danielle Asher."

"Oh. Well I don't want you to get in trouble for talking to me."

Troy shrugged, "Danielle is a bit territorial, but it's cool."

Troy opened the door for Gabriella as a shrill bell rang.

"You're late!" A sharp voice said. It was their teacher, Mrs. Harrison. "It may be the first day of school, but I do not except tardiness."

Troy held his hands up, in surrender. "Sorry." He pointed to Gabriella. "She's new, and I was helping her."

"No excuses!" Mrs. Harrison said. "You're staying after class. What are your names?"

"Troy Bolton." Troy answer.

Mrs. Harrison pointed to Gabriella, "And you Miss?"

Gabriella took off her sunglasses, "Gabriella Montez."

A gasp was heard from the other side of the room. Danielle stood up from her seat, "Gabriella?"

Everyone in the classroom turned to Gabriella. It was Gabriella! What was she doing back? What happened to her?

Gabriella ran over to Danielle and gave her a giant bear hug. "Miss me, bestie?"

* * *

"What the hell happened to you?" Danielle asked, sitting her bag down at her lunch table. "You just dropped off the face of the planet. No calls, or texts. Nothing."

"My parents let me stay in Los Angeles for my sophomore year." Gabriella answered.

"You look so..."

"Skinny." Gabriella finished. "I know. It's amazing how everything changes when you drop like 60 pounds, dye your hair, and get contacts."

"Well you look great, Gabriella." Taylor complimented. "And I missed you."

"I missed you, too, Tay. A lot."

"Why didn't you tell me you were algebra girl?" Troy asked.

"You didn't ask if I was algebra girl, Troy." Gabriella answered, sarcastically.

"Well can you start saving my ass in calculus? It may be the first day of school, but I can already tell the odds aren't going to be in my favor."

Danielle, picking up on the friendliness between Troy and Gabriella, cleared her throat loudly. "Well you look great, Gabriella. Seriously."

"Thank you."

Troy's phone rang. "I'll be right back, guys." He got up from the table to answer his phone.

Danielle turned to Gabriella. "Gabriella, i know our last conversation didn't end so well, but we've both had a lot of time to think and cool down. And I'm sorry. I was a bitch."

_Got that right_, Gabriella thought. "Apology accepted, Danielle. I'm completely over it."

"Great. Now we can go back to being best friends?"

Gabriella nodded, looking past Danielle. She glanced at Troy. "Of course. It'll be like I never left."

* * *

Gabriella paced around her bedroom, cellphone at her ear. "Lola? Lola, can you hear me?"

"Yeah, I can hear." Lola replied. "Weak cellphone reception."

"Where are you?"

Lola sighed, heavily, "Oh, just wandering around campus. I'm definitely going to need a map to navigate around UCLA."

Gabriella frowned, "Don't remind me of the fact that you're in California and I got shipped back to Albuquerque."

"Sorry. How was your first day back?"

Gabriella picked a dart up from her nightstand and twirled it around in between her fingers. "It was pretty eventful. Everyone was shocked to see that Gabriella Montez was back and she was skinny."

"What was Danielle like?" Lola asked.

"She hid her suspicion behind that fake smile of her's. If this was Gossip Girl, I'd be Serena and she'd be Blair."

"Good for you."

"And get this: she wants to go back to being best friends."

Lola laughed, "Really? What did you say?"

"I said yes."

"Why?"

"Don't worry, sis. I'll have my fingers crosses behind my back the entire time."

"What about Troy? Is he still dating Danielle?"

"Yeah."

"Do you have a plan?"

Gabriella threw the dart at her wall. It stuck to a picture of Danielle. "Of course I do."


	2. Tutoring & Video Games

Gabriella stared at the pink walls of Danielle's bedroom. It had been forever since she had been in this bedroom. She never thouhght in a million years that she'd be back in Albuquerque, much less Danielle's bedroom.

The only reason she agreed to come to Danielle's house was to keep up the facade that she was still Danielle's best friend. Another reason was to go through Danielle's things and see if she could find anything. But Gabriella's plans were interrupted by unexpected guests.

Next to her was Sharpay Evans, Troy's godsister. "Sharpay, are you new out here? I don't really think I remember you."

Sharpay nodded, "Yeah, I moved out here a few months ago with my parents. We lived in Santa Fe."

"Oh. Danielle never mentioned you."

"She never mentioned you either. I guess she wanted to keep you all to herself."

"Actually, I just moved back out here from L.A. I spent a year out there."

"Really?" Gabriella nodded. "That's so interesting."

Gabriella sighed, "I know. My parents thought it would be a good idea if I moved back out here. I'm moving back as soon as I get the chance."

Sharpay looked at her watched and sighed. "Troy was supposed to pick me up 15 minutes ago, but as usual, he's running late."

"You have somewhere to be?"

"No. I just don't want to be here."

Gabriella frowned, "Why?"

Sharpay shook her head, "No, it's not you. In all honesty, I'm not Danielle's biggest fan."

Gabriella kept a straight face, even though she was smiling on the inside. She might actually like Sharpay. They already had one thing in common: their mutual dislike for Danielle.

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. Troy thought it would be a good idea for us to get to know each other, but I'd rather be anywhere but here right now."

Gabriella walked over to Danielle's window and looked out. "Well, Troy is here."

"Where?"

"Outside with Danielle." Gabriella replied, rolling her eyes at the couple.

Sharpay walked over to the window. "If they start kissing, I seriously might throw up."

Gabriella nodded in agreement. She backed away from the window. "They're too caught up in each other right now. You want me to drive you home?"

"Yes, please."

Gabriella grabbed her Sharpay's purse and handed it to her. "Alright. Let's go."

They walked out of Danielle's bedroom and started heading downstairs. They spotted Danielle's parents coming up the stairs.

"Hey Mr. and Mrs. A." Gabriella greeted with a smile and wave.

Danielle's mom, Alexis, smiled, "Hey girls. You leaving?"

Gabriella nodded, "Yeah, I'm just going to drop Sharpay off at home."

Alexis frowned, "Aw, too bad. I wish you could stay longer, Gabriella. We haven't seen you in a whole year."

"How was Los Angeles?" Robert, Danielle's father, asked.

"Los Angeles was great. I plan on moving back out there for college." Gabriella answered.

"Your father was telling me that Lola goes to UCLA, now."

"Yeah, it's her first year. She's super excited."

"Well congratulations to her. Now if you girls will excuse me, I have to make sure Robert gets some rest." Alexis said.

"Lex, I'm fine."

"I find it ironic that a cardiologist with cardiac dysrhythmia can't take care of himself." Alexis stated. "Now go upstairs to your room."

Robert put his head down, "Yes mother. Goodbye girls."

Gabriella smiled as she said goodbye. How could Danielle have such nice parents, and be such a horrible human being. That didn't make a lick of sense.

"Hey guys." Troy greeted, as the two girls walked outside. "Shar, you ready to go?"

Sharpay pointed to Gabriella, "Actually, Gabriella offered to drive me home."

Troy shook his head, "No, Gabriella. You don't have to do that."

"I know, but I want to."

"Are you sure?" Troy asked, skeptically.

Gabriella held up her hands in surrender, "Ok. You can take her hone."

Troy scoffed, "Never mind. Sorry I pushed it."

"We'll see you guys tomorrow at school." Sharpay said, waving. Gabriella unlocked her car door so she could get in.

"Where do you live?" Gabriella questioned, turning to Sharpay.

"Savannah Avenue."

Gabriella smiled, "No way!"

"What? What's wrong?"

"We live on the same street."

"Are you for real?"

Gabriella nodded, "Yes. We live on the same street."

"Great. I'll have someone to hang out with."

"There is only so much Danielle a person can handle at a time." Gabriella half-joked.

* * *

"I seriously hate physics." Troy complained, closing his textbook in frustration. "Physics sucks."

"It's not that hard, Troy." Gabriella argued, opening Troy's book back up.

They were sitting on the floor of Troy's bedroom. Textbooks, notebooks, highlighters, pens, and post-its were scattered all around them. She was Troy's new physics partner/tutor.

It completely shocked Gabriella when Troy asked Gabriella to be his new partner. He said because of Danielle, they got a 62/100 on their last lab, and he couldn't afford to have a D.

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm completely horrible at anything that has to do with math, or equations."

"Troy, you're really smart. Every question I've asked you, you've gotten correct. You're mistaking your hatred for confusion."

"Way to go all psychological on me, algebra girl." Troy groaned, throwing his eraser at Gabriella.

"Don't throw things at me!" Gabriella ordered, throwing the eraser back at Troy, hitting him on the forehead. "It's not nice to bully the person who is helping you."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Quiz me."

"What are the two types of motions Aristotle studied?"

"Umm, natural and violent."

"Correct. Newtons 1st Law of Motion?"'

"An object in motion, stays in motions and an object in rest, stays in rest, unless acted upon by an outside force."

"What's the difference between weight and mass?"

"Mass is the measure of material in an object and weight is the measure if gravitational force acting on an object."

Gabriella smiled, "Troy, you're going to ace your test."

"Are you positive?"

"Extremely positive." Gabriella assured. "I'm willing to bet money on it."

Troy let out a sigh of relief. "Good. So, no more studying for today?"

Gabriella shook her head, "No, not unless you want to."

"Trust me, I don't." Troy grabs his books and puts them back under his bookshelf.

"Knock knock!" A cheerful voice caught the attention of the two teens. They looked up and saw Troy's mother, Lucille, standing in the doorway.

"Hi mom." Troy greeted.

"I thought you two little scholars would like a snack." Lucille said, setting a plate of cookies down on the dresser. "Gabriella, are you allergic to peanuts?"

"No. Why?"

"I made a few sugar cookies, just in case you were allergic to the peanuts in peanut butter cookies."

"No way. I love peanut butter cookies."

Lucille smiled, "Well there is a lot more in the kitchen. You can take the rest home."

"Thanks Mrs. Bolton."

"Lucille." Lucille corrected. "And you're welcome, sweetheart." She walked out of Troy's room, closing the door behind her.

"Your mom is really sweet." Gabriella complimented.

"I'll tell her you said that."

Gabriella looked over at Troy, who was fiddling with his television. "What are you doing?"

"Turning on my XBox. Want to play?"

"Sure. What game are we playing?"

"Saints Row: The Third."

"I have never heard of that game."

"All you have to do is drive and kill. It's really simple. I promise." Troy handed Gabriella the controller.

After spending a few minutes creating a new character for Gabriella-she refused to play as Troy's character. He had a tattoo on his neck-they were finally ready to play.

"Ok, what do I do?" Gabriella asked, pushing random buttons on the controller.

"You don't push anything yet. It's just in the story mode right now. Pay attention."

Gabriella stared at the TV screen. There was a group of people trying to rob a bank. "Why are they wearing those ridiculous masks?"

"They're robbing a bank. It's a disguise." Troy explained.

Gabriella gasped, "Oh my goodness, that dumbass just pushed the silent alarm. He is like the world's dumbest criminal."

Troy let out a lazy 'mhmm' in reply.

"Ok, now what am I supposed to do?"

Troy pointed to the green 'A' on the controller. "Press that to shoot."

"All I'm doing is shooting?"

"Yes."

"I'm shooting but it isn't working."

Troy grabbed the controller from Gabriella. "You ran out of bullets because you wasted them on shooting at the ground."

"Oh."

Troy swapped Gabriella's character's gun for someone else's and gave the controller back to her. "This time shoot at the people." He teased.

"Don't make fun of me, Troy."

Troy chuckled, "I'm sorry, Gabriella. This is just really amusing."

"My failure isn't... aha!"

"What?"

"I killed someone!" Gabriella exclaimed. She jumped up, excitedly. "I killed someone. I killed someone. In your face, I'm amazing."

"Gabriella."

"Yes, Troy."

"You died." Troy said, biting down on his lip to keep from laughing.

Gabriella turned around to look at the TV. Troy was right. Gabriella's character was indeed dead, "What the hell?"

"You got so caught up in your victory, you weren't paying attention."

Gabriella playfully shoved Troy. He shoved her back. Gabriella slapped Troy on the leg. "Don't shove me."

Troy shoved Gabriella back, causing her to fall over. "You shoved me first."

"Your maturity level is outstanding." Gabriella said, giggling.

"Ok, now that we are..." Troy was cut off by a marker hitting his nose. "Ok. It's on."

"What do you mean?" Gabriella asked, raising an eyebrow.

Troy grabbed Gabriella's arm and pulled her closer to him. He put her in a headlock.

"Troy! What are you doing?"

"Say sorry." Troy ordered.

"No."

"Say you're sorry."

"I'm not sorry."

"I'm going to give you a noogie." Troy warned.

"Troy if you give me a noogie, I will punch you."

"All you have to do is apologize." Troy said, rubbing his knuckles against Gabriella's head.

Gabriella gasped, "You're messing up my hair!"

"Gabriella, all you have to do is say sorry."

"Fine, I'm sorry."

"Say it like you mean it."

"Troy." Gabriella growled.

"Say it like you mean it." Troy repeated.

"I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for."

"I'm sorry for hitting you and throwing things at you." Gabriella apologized.

"Excuse me."

They looked up and saw Danielle staring...no glaring at them. She was obviously pissed.

"Hey baby." Troy greeted, letting Gabriella out of his strong grip. She smoothed down her hair. He got up and gave Danielle a kiss on her cheek.

"What's going on here?" Danielle asked.

"We were studying." Troy explained.

Danielle looked around the room. "I'm not really getting the "studying" vibe."

"Well "were" being the operative word." Gabriella stated. "We stopped and started..."

"Rolling around on the ground, giggling?" Danielle finished.

"Playing XBox." Gabriella corrected.

"Ok, and then you guys started rolling around on ground, giggling?"

Gabriella dismissed Danielle's comment. "That isn't important right now."

Danielle scoffed, "It isn't?"

"No." Gabriella assured. She picked her book up from off the floor. "I'll see you lovebirds at school tomorrow."

"Don't forget the cookies." Troy called out as Gabriella walked out of his room.

"I won't!" Gabriella called back.

When Gabriella left, Danielle turned to Troy. Troy shrugged, "What?"

"What the hell was that?"

"What do you mean?"

"When I come over, can I _not_ find you flirting with another girl?"

Troy rolled his eyes, "I wasn't flirting with Gabriella."

"Sure you weren't." Danielle ground out. "I may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night."

"Do you really think I would flirt with another girl? Who is your best friend?"

Danielle eyed Troy skeptically. She let out a sigh, "No."

"Ok then." Troy gave her a kiss. "Don't be so paranoid."

"I'm not paranoid."

* * *

Gabriella was actually really happy to get home. All she wanted to do was get some sleep. After three hours of tutoring Troy, and then getting attacked by him, she was exhausted.

Her cellphone vibrated against the palm of her hand. She looked at it. A picture of Lola popped up.

"Hello?"

"Hey sis." Lola greeted. "What's up?"

"I'm going to take a nap." Gabriella replied.

"In the middle of the afternoon? Are you a toddler?"

"Lola, I'm sleepy."

"Why?"

"I was at Troy's house studying."

"Studying?" Gabriella could hear the mischievous tone in Lola's voice.

"Yes. Studying. I'm am his new tutor and his lab partner.

"Oh. What's the fun in studying?"

"Gosh, let me finish the story."

"Sorry."

"So we were studying, and we stopped to play a game on his XBox 360." Gabriella continued.

Lola sighed, "Still doesn't sound like fun."

"Well, I can tell you that there was a lot of physical contact involved."

"What kind of physical contact?"

"The playful nature. It was really fun until Danielle walked in."

"Uh-oh. Was she pissed off?"

"Oh yeah. She was livid." Gabriella giggled. "It was great!"

"You did it just to piss her off?"

"No. She walked in on us. Troy and I were just playing around. And his mom gave me like a million cookies."

"Really?"

"Yeah. When she bakes, she doesn't stop at just a dozen. We'll have peanut butter cookies until December."

"Try to save me some, alright. I'll be out there next weekend."

"What's happening next weekend?"

"Labor Day weekend." Lola answered. "I'll be in New Mexico for a few days."

Gabriella scratched her head in confusion, "You're going to leave L.A. to come out to here?"

"Yeah. It's not like I'm 21."

"You're gorgeous! Pretty girls don't need ID, Lola."

"Do you not want me to come visit?"

"No. It'll be great to see you."

"Good. Now I have to go. My next class starts in 6 minutes."

"Call me, later."

"I will. Bye!" Lola hangs up.

Gabriella flopped down on the bed. She still wanted to take a nap, but she was on a Troy Bolton high. There was no way she could sleep when her heart was pounding a mile a minute. They were having such a good time until Danielle ruined it.

She gagged at the thought of Danielle. That bitch ruined everything. It seemed like as soon as she opened her mouth, the light hearted atmosphere did a complete 180 and it was suddenly being controlled by the block of ice living the spot where her heart should be.

Gabriella frowned. Thinking about Danielle totally ruined the natural high she was on.

Gabriella pushed herself off of her bed. There was a huge plate of cookies sitting in the kitchen, waiting for her. If those didn't put Gabriella in a good mood, nothing would.

The next day at school, the tension was thick between Gabriella and Danielle. Everyone around them could feel the awkwardness between the two "friends", but no one was courageous enough to bring it up.

* * *

"Danielle, about what happened yesterday..." Gabriella started. Danielle cut her off.

"It's whatever."

"It was really inappropriate." Gabriella continued.

"Yeah." Danielle agreed, stabbing her salad with a fork. She stared at Gabrielle, intently. "I was pissed, but Troy was able to calm me down. He made it up to me last night."

Gabriella rolled her eyes at Danielle's not-so-subtle way of telling her she and Troy had sex. "Glad you guys were able to talk."

"I told Troy that you two should find a new place to study. Maybe somewhere more public. Like the library. Or the park."

"Of course." Gabriella smiled. Danielle was jealous and intimidated. That was right where Gabriella wanted her. "Speaking of the library, I have to go there. See you in English."

Danielle watched Gabriella leave the table. She turned around and faced her salad, again.

"You alright?" Danielle's friend, Robin, asked.

Danielle nodded, "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, for one, your hand is bleeding." Robin pointed to Danielle's hand.

Danielle looked down at her palm. She had dug her nails into the palm of her hand., and she broke skin. "I want you to watch her."

"Watch Gabriella?"

"Something is up with her." Danielle observed.

Robin laughed, dismissively. "This is Gabriella Montez we're talking about."

"She isn't the same Gabriella. And I don't trust that bitch."

"Are you jeal..."

"Robin if you know what's good for you, you won't even think about asking me that question." Danielle threatened.

Robin looked down at her tray, afraid of Danielle's hateful glare. Her question had been answered.

On the other side of the cafeteria, Gabriella was watching Danielle talk to Robin. Things were going to be too easy for Gabriella. Troy liked Gabriella, and it pissed Danielle off.

"Watch your back, bitch." Gabriella whispered, looking at Danielle. "I'm ready to play. Let the games begin."


	3. Pool Party

"Hey loser!" Danielle called out to Gabriella, weaving through the people in the library.

"Shh!" The mean old librarian, Mrs. Alexander, hissed at Danielle. Danielle glared at her, harshly.

Gabriella looked up from her French 3 textbook and stared at Danielle. "Hi Danielle. What's up?"

Danielle handed Gabriella an envelope. "Here you go."

Gabriella looked at the envelope in her hands, "What is this for?"

"This is an invitation to my Labor Day pool party on Saturday."

"Isn't Labor Day on Monday?" Taylor asked.

"Yes, Taylor, but me being the considerate person that I am, decided not to have it on the actual day. People might want to be with their families." Danielle explained.

Taylor rolled her eyes, "Right. I completely forgot that you were such a "considerate" person and you actually gave a damn how people felt. My mistake."

Danielle ignored Taylor's comment and turned to Gabriella. "So can you come?"

"I'll be there." Gabriella said. "I promise."

"You can come too, Taylor." Danielle said.

Taylor smiled, "I'll really consider it, Danielle."

"Great! Now I have to go. The library depresses me. I'll see you guys later." Danielle waved and walked away from the table.

Taylor grabbed the invitation out of Gabriella's hand. "I can't believe she invited me to this."

"You aren't going to go?" Gabriella asked.

Taylor turned to Gabriella, "Hi, have we met? My name is Taylor Nicole McKessie, and I really hate Danielle."

"So? There are going to be a ton of people there. You can hang out with me."

"You're going to go?" Taylor questioned, incredulously.

Gabriella nodded, "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because the last party you went to that was thrown by Danielle, you left early in." Taylor answered.

Gabriella bit the inside of her cheek. That was the worst party she had ever been to. Danielle called her fat and told her she was dating her crush. Yup, it was pretty suckish.

"Yeah, but that was over a year ago." Gabriella replied. "I want to party."

Taylor sighed, "Well if you're going, I guess I could go."

Gabriella grabbed Taylor's hands, "You're amazing dah-ling." She said in a terrible British accent.

Taylor laughed, "Well so are you, dah-ling."

The librarian looked at the girls, sternly. "Keep it down! People are actually trying to study."

"We're studying lines for a play we're in." Gabriella lied.

"Well keep it quiet!"

"Sorry, Mrs. Alexander." Taylor said.

Gabriella's iPhone flashed and vibrated in her bag. She pulled it out. One new text message.

_Lola: where are you?_

_Gabriella rolled her eyes at the question and typed a reply._

_Gabriella: school, obviously_

_Lola: what part of the school?_

_Gabriella: the library. Why?_

_Lola: come to the hallway. Bring your stuff, too_

Gabriella rolled her eyes and put her phone in her pocket. What the hell was Lola talking about?

"Let's go into the hallway." Gabriella said, getting out of her seat and grabbing her stuff.

Taylor looked up from her notebook. "What's in the hallway?"

Gabriella shrugged, "Lola sent me a text message telling me to go into the hallway."

"Lola is in L.A. How would she know about what's going on in the hall?" Taylor asked.

"My sister is a weirdo at times. Maybe she hired someone to give me something." Gabriella suggested. "Look, no more questions. Let's just go see."

Taylor closed her notebook and put it in her bag. She got up. "Alright. Let's go see what's in the hall."

The two walked outside to the hallway. There was nothing interesting. People coming in and out of class, kids gossiping. Nothing that would stick out.

"What a waste of time." Gabriella complained, rolling her eyes. "My sister is-"

"Turn around." A voice called.

Gabriella turned around and saw Lola looking at her. "Lola!"

"Gabi!" Lola squealed back, pulling her sister into a bear hug. She pulled away and gave Taylor a hug, too.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be here tomorrow night."

"I lied." Lola replied. "I wanted to surprise you."

"At school?"

"Spontaneity is one of my qualities." Lola said. "You want to leave?"

Taylor looked at the big clock hanging over the library door. "It's only noon."

"Who cares? Do you guys really need to go to 5th and 6th period?"

"Yes."

"Its only September. It's not like you're skipping finals week. And it's almost the end of the day."

"Where are we going to do?"

Lola shrugged, "We can go to the mall."

"Alright." Gabrielle agreed. "You in, Tay?"

"What the heck? I might as well."

Gabriella smiled, "Great!"

"But don't we need parents to sign us out?" Taylor asked.

Lola shook her head, "No, the people in the office are completely oblivious. I just walked right in. They didn't even look up from their computers. We can just walk out if we want."

"Ok then. Let's go."

* * *

"Ok, tell me why we're in here again." Gabriella said, getting pulled along by her sister.

"You're going to a pool party, right?" Lola asked.

"Yeah."

"You need a bathing suit." Lola stated.

"I have a bathing suit."

Lola scoffed and dragged Gabriella into Victoria's Secret. "Yeah, tankinis and one pieces are not going to cut it, anymore."

"I have a bikini." Gabriella said.

"You wore it on 4th of July for like, 10 minutes, because I dared you to. What did you do after the 10 minutes? You put on your regular bathing suits. And it was really ugly."

Gabriella gasped, "It's not ugly!"

"It's ugly." Lola argued. "Now we just need to find you something nice."

"Hi, can I help you three?" A perky saleswoman with a nametag that said Amanda, asked.

"No." Gabriella answered.

"Yes!" Lola insisted. "My sister is going to a pool party. And the people that will be there have never seen her half naked before, so she needs to make a really good first impression."

"Ok, do you have anything in mind?" Amanda asked.

Gabriella shook her head, "No. What do you have?"

"Almost anything you can think of." Amanda said. "Now do you want something that will cover anything up?"

Lola shook her head, "Not at all. She needs a bikini, preferably something that makes her boobs look big."

"Lola, I don't have the chest of a 12 year old boy." Gabriella said. When she lost weight, her boobs did not go away. Looking flat chested wasn't a problem Gabriella had.

"They can always be bigger."

Amanda ushered the girls over to a rack of bikinis. "Here are our Bombshell Bikini Tops. They are amazing."

Lola smiled, "Great! I guess we'll start here. Thank you, Amanda."

"You're welcome." She walked off to help other customers.

Gabriella turned to her sister in annoyance, "Lola, I'm not interested in this."

Lola frowned, "Don't be a Debby Downer, Gabs."

"Yeah." Taylor agreed. "I'll try some on with you."

"Really?"

Taylor nodded, "Of course."

Lola pulled a few bikinis off the rack and handed them to Gabriella. "Here you go." She pushed Gabriella towards the dressing room.

Gabriella stared at her reflection, intently after she put on one of the bikinis Lola picked up for her. She looked great, but showing skin wasn't something she was entirely comfortable with. Yeah, she lost weight-a lot of it-but being half naked made her feel vulnerable. Like she was still the awkward fat girl.

_"Danielle, what do you think of this?" Gabriella asked, holding up a green bikini._

_Danielle turned to Gabriella, "It's nice. Are you getting it for Lola."_

_"I was going to get it for myself." Gabriella replied._

_Danielle chuckled, "Really?"_

_"Yeah."_

_Danielle shook her head, "Gabi, you should find something more appropriate."_

_"What's wrong with this?"_

_Danielle walked over to Gabriella, "Look, I only say this because I care, but you aren't going to fit into a bikini."_

_Gabriella's face fell, "Oh."_

_"I mean, you can wear one, but you're going to get laughed at."_

_"Fine. I don't want to get laughed at."_

_Danielle patted Gabriella's hand, "Why don't you try Forever21? They have a plus size collection."_

_"I will."_

Gabriella was pulled out of her thoughts by someone loudly knocking loudly on her door.

"Gabi!" Lola called, still knocking on the door.

"Yes, Lola?"

"Are you alright? Did you get stuck?"

"I'm fine, Lola."

"Well come out, already! I want to see what you look like."

Gabriella reluctantly opened the door and stepped outside. Lola gasped. "What's wrong? Do I look horrible?"

Taylor stepped out of her dressing room, also, and looked at Gabriella. "Gabriella."

"What's wrong?" Gabriella asked, suddenly panicking. "Do I look fat?"

"No way!"

"You look great." Taylor added.

"Really?"

Taylor nodded, "Absolutely. You're going to buy it, right?"

"I don't know." Gabriella answered, reluctantly.

"Gabriella, there is a 99% chance that I will murder you if you don't buy it." Lola threatened.

Gabriella knew she wasn't going to win this fight. "Ok, I'll get it."

Taylor and Lola high fived each other.

"Thank God."

* * *

"Gabriella, if you back out of this, I'm going to kill you." Lola warned, pulling into Danielle's driveway. "With my bare hands."

"Lola, I'm shaking right now, and your threats aren't really helping my rattled nerves."

"Like your first date with Anthony nervous?" Lola asked.

Gabriella remembered her first date with her ex, Anthony. Before their first date, she was so nervous, her aunt almost gave her some of her anxiety pills. The date was perfect and she and Andre dated for 8 months. She was worried for nothing. But this was different.

Gabriella shook her head, "No, I'm more nervous than that."

"Ok, that's not good at all."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious."

Lola checked her appearance in her mirror. "Take a few, calming breaths. Think happy thoughts."

Gabriella closed her eyes, "Happy thoughts." She repeated. She opened her eyes. "It's not working."

"No?"

"No."

"Well what do you want me to do?" Lola asked. "I'm not taking you home."

"Gee, thanks. What if I was having a real anxiety attack?"

"You'd have to work your way through it." Lola answered.

"You're fucking horrible."

"Come on. Once you see your friends, and maybe have a drink, or 5, you'll calm down." Lola unbuckled her seat belt, and got out of the car.

Gabriella looked up and saw Lola walking towards her side of the car. "What are you doing?" She asked. Lola had opened the car door, and yanked her out. "Lola let me go!"

"No." Lola said, defiantly. She grabbed at Gabriella's oversized t-shirt and started pulling it off of her sister's body.

"Lola, stop it!" Gabriella yelled. People in the driveway looked at the two sisters in confusion, but did nothing.

"I'm doing this because I love you!" Lola yelled back. "So just shut the fuck up and relax!" She put Gabriella's shirt in her car and closed the door.

Gabriella pushed her hair out of her face. "I'm not walking in there in just my bathing suit."

"Yes you are." Lola argued. She messed with Gabriella's hair. "I'm your older sister, so you have to do what I say."

"You've been using that excuse since I was 3. It isn't going to work anymore."

Lola grabbed her sister's hand, "Come on. We're going to have fun."

"I hope so, because the last few minutes of my life were horrible."

"Quit being such a baby."

"I'm not being a-" Gabriella froze mid-sentence. She was inside the house and yep, everyone was staring at her.

This was the one thing she did not want. Attention. Specifically attention directed towards her body. That was the worst kind of attention. And it's not like Gabriella could cover up, because Lola left her shirt and towel in the car.

Gabriella turned around. She was just going to leave, but Lola grabbed her arms. "Not so fast. You did not spend $50 on a bathing suit, and I didn't waste my brand new MAC eye shadow on you for nothing. Now put on your big girl panties and have fun."

Lola turned Gabriella around and gave her a solid push. Gabriella crashed right into someone and was knocked off her feet.

"Oh, algebra girl!" Troy exclaimed, as he helped Gabriella up to her feet. "Sorry, I didn't see you there."

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "Its not your fault. My sister pushed me into you."

"Good to see you." Troy pulled Gabriella in for a hug. Gabriella smiled in content. He smelled like Axe and chlorine. A surprisingly good combination on him, Gabriella observed. She felt like she was going to pass out.

Lola subtly cleared her throat. The pair pulled away from their embrace. "Hey Troy."

"Hi Lola." Troy greeted back, giving Lola a warm smile. "Marcus is here."

Lola smiled. "Really?" She had missed her best friend. She hadn't seen Marcus in a while.

"Yeah, he is in the backyard."

"Well, I have to go see him. Gabs, I will see you later." Lola sped off, weaving through the crowd of people.

"Were you about to leave?" Troy asked, once Lola was gone. "I saw you turn towards the door."

"I was going to go get my towel out of Lola's car." Gabriella lied. "And cover up my body, but Lola said no."

"Well, you look great, if its any consolation."

"Thank you."

Gabriella started walking towards the sliding glass doors that led to Daniella's spacious backyard.

"Gabi!" Danielle greeted, running over to friend. She looked Gabriella up and down. "You look great."

Gabriella smiled. She sat down at the edge of the pool, and sunk her feet in. "Thanks. As do you."

"I'm glad you came." Daniella said, sitting next to Gabriella. "My parties haven't been the same without my best friend."

Gabriella raised an eyebrow and turned to Danielle"Really? I was usually a wallflower."

"But still. Robin is fun, I guess. And so is Sharpay, but they don't have the same quality as you did."

Did. That word piqued Gabriella's interest. Gabriella was really good at reading people, and reading in-between the lines. Danielle didn't like hanging with Robin or Sharpay because they were too pretty, too skinny. You would always look like a 10 next to a solid 6.

Gabriella always had a feeling that Danielle liked being with her, because she knew she'd always look good. Well those days are over. New Gabriella was in town, and she was going to have fun.

Gabriella nodded, suddenly getting a surge of confidence. "Well there can only be one Gabriella Montez." She grabbed Danielle's cup out of her hand and took a sip. "What is this?"

"Sangria." Danielle replied.

Gabriella stood up and gave Danielle her cup back. "It's really good. You should become a bartender when you're 21."

"Thanks." Danielle said.

"HEY EVERYBODY!" Gabriella yelled, capturing everyone's attention. "LET'S PARTY!" She dove into the pool. The water splashed Danielle.

Everyone outside let out a big cheer. As if Gabriella's command, was like a switch and everyone was automatically more...alive.

Danielle wrung her hair out. She was at a lost for words. In the blink of an eye, Gabriella was the life of the party. And that made Danielle livid.

* * *

"So, Montez," Marcus started, sliding up next to Gabriella near the edge of the pool. "I missed you last year."

"Really?"

Marcus nodded, "Really. I mean, Lola doesn't like going to the carnival, eating three funnel cakes, and watching scary movies with me."

"That's too bad." Gabriella said, frowning.

"And it also sucked I couldn't see that pretty face of yours." Marcus added, winking.

"Well if I didn't know any better, I'd say Marcus Bolton is flirting with me."

Marcus smiled, "Yeah."

"I knew you were a notorious flirt, but one Montez isn't enough?" Gabriella teased. "You gotta have both?"

"You're actually flirting back. Lola gets annoyed and walks away."

Gabriella leaned in closer to Marcus and put her hand on his shoulder. "Lola and I are very different. Want to know how?"

"Yes."

Gabriella leaned closer so that her lips were almost touching Marcus's ear. Marcus broke out in goosebumps, "While Lola walks away from ridiculously obnoxious guys, I push them into pools."

Marcus turned to face Gabriella, "What are-"

Before Marcus cod even finish his sentence, Gabriella shoved him into the pool. After a few seconds, Marcus resurfaced. He gave Gabriella a smile, "You're good, Gabriella."

Gabriella smirked as she stood up, "I'm great."

Gabriella walked away from the pool and towards the basketball hoop. A big basketball was sitting in the grass at Gabriella's feet. She picked it up.

"You know how to play basketball?" Troy asked, sneaking up behind Gabriella.

Gabriella turned around and tossed the basketball to Troy, "No idea how to play. I love watching it, though."

"Oh yeah. What's your favorite team."

"Where have I been for the last year?"

"L.A."

"Guess my favorite team."

Troy groaned, "Don't tell me you're a Clipper's fan." He joked. "And to think I actually liked you, algebra girl."

"Lakers fan 'til I die, Bolton."

Troy smiled, "Good. I won't have to hate you."

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm hard to hate."

"Would've been easy if you were anything but a Lakers fan."

"Nope." Gabriella argued. "Would've been really hard

Troy rolled his eyes, "Here." He gave the ball back to Gabriella. "I'll show you how to shoot."

"Ok."

Gabriella turned around and faced to net. Troy got behind Gabriella, and grabbed her hands. "You have to be in a certain stance to make to the perfect shot." He lifted Gabriella's hands up. "Bend your knees." Gabriella complied. "And release." Gabriella shot the ball and it went into the net, perfectly.

"I got one!" Gabriella exclaimed, clasping her hands together. "I never knew there were so many steps to just shooting a ball into a net. Imagine if I actually wanted to play a whole game."

"You'd die."

"You're probably right." Gabriella looked at the ground around her. "Where did the basketball go?"

Troy shrugged, "I don't know. I don't have it."

Gabriella walked towards to hoop. "It was just here. That's weird."

"Gabriella, look out!" Someone called from the distance.

Gabriella barely had enough time to turn around when she saw the huge orange ball heading towards her face. It connected with a loud "bang!". Gabriella teetered and collided with the huge pole she was standing next to. Her knees gave out on here. The last thing she saw was a huge crowd of people rushing up to her before everything went black.

* * *

Bright, white lights. That's the first thing Gabriella saw as she opened up her eyes. Blinding, white lights. It only took a few seconds for Gabriella to realize that she was not at Danielle's house, anymore.

"Baby, I think she's waking up."

"Greg, shh!"

"Crissy, don't shh me."

"Gregory Anthony Montez, do not tell me what to do."

Gabriella looked over and saw her two bickering parents, staring at her with eyes full of relief.

Gabriella touched her head, and winced, "What's going on?"

Gabriella's mom, Cristina, grabbed her daughter's hand, "Baby, you're in the hospital."

"The hospital?" Gabriella repeated, obviously confused.

"It's not everyday when you're working in the hospital, and you see them bringing your daughter in through the emergency." Greg stated.

"You got hit in the head, and as a result, you hit your head." Cristina explained. "You don't remember?"

"The last thing I remember is I was at Danielle's house, and there was a basketball, and someone called my name. Everything after that is a blur." Gabriella said, rubbing her aching head.

"You have a concussion." Cristina continued, "And a really nasty knot on your forehead."

Gabriella touched her forehead, and felt a huge knot, right above her eyebrow. "Oh no. Do you guys know who hit me?"

Greg shook his head, "No. No one was paying attention to you."

"Comforting."

A doctor walked into her room and smiled when she saw Gabriella's eyes were open. "Ah, Miss Montez, you are finally conscious again."

"Hi, doctor." Gabriella greeted.

The doctor pulled out her opthalmoscope and checked Gabriella's eyes. "Gabriella, I'm going to ask you a few questions, ok?" Gabriella nodded. "Ok, what is today?"

"9-1-12."

"What is your date of birth?"

"12-14-95."

"How old are you?"

"16."

The doctor pointed to Greg and Cristina. "Do you know who these people are?"

Gabriella nodded, "They're my parents."

"Good. There doesn't seem to be any memory loss. Gabriella describe how you are feeling."

"My head is hurting." Gabriella answered.

"Any dizziness? Nausea? Blurred or double vision? Do you hear a ringing in your ears?" The doctor fired off.

Gabriella shook her head, "Not really. I know these lights are extremely bright and they're hurting my eyes."

"Light sensitivity. That is pretty common in people who get concussions."

"Doctor, when can I leave?" Gabriella asked.

"Well, you hit your head, twice. We want to give you a MRI, and make sure nothing is wrong. And you were unconscious for a while. We are going to monitor you for 24 hours, so you'll stay here."

Gabriella groaned, "No. The party."

Cristina frowned, "Sorry chickadee, but your health is number 1 in our book. You've had enough party for today."

* * *

Gabriella closed her eyes in content. She was finally alone. Cristina and Lola had left to get some of Gabriella's things and Greg went back to work. There were no doctors shuffling in and out of her room. She had a finally had a moment to relax.

Her relaxation was cut off by someone knocking at her door, "Go away."

The door opened anyway, and Marcus and Troy walked in, holding balloons, cards, flowers, and various stuffed animals.

"Aw, Gabriella, you want us gone?" Marcus said, feigning to be hurt.

"Sorry. It's been pretty hectic here." Marcus and Troy set all of Gabriella's things on the table next to her bed. "Guys, I think you went a bit overboard with the gifts."

"Our dad gave us $75. We went all out." Troy told her.

Gabriella smiled, "Thanks."

"So, Gabriella, how's that noggin?" Marcus asked.

"Hurting." Gabriella answered. "Did you guys see who threw the basketball?" The siblings shook their heads. "That sucks."

"I feel pretty bad." Troy announced.

"Why?"

"I mean, I was standing right next to you. I should've did something."

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "It isn't your fault. The person who threw the basketball at my head is at fault."

"But-"

"Case closed, Bolton. I don't blame you."

Troy sighed. "Ok."

Gabriella threw her itchy hospital blanket off of her body and moved to get out of the bed.

"Montez, what are you doing?"

"I need to stretch my legs." Gabriella replied, stepping out of the bed. "They feel like Jell-O."

Gabriella started moving around the room, when she started feeling lightheaded. She lost her balance and grabbed the chair to keep her standing. Troy rushed over to catch her before she collapsed on the floor.

Troy gently pushed Gabriella back over to her bed. "Should we call your doctor, or your parents?"

"No! I'll be fine."

"I don't believe that."

"Well you should."

Troy shook his head, "I'm going to get a doctor. Almost fainting isn't nothing." He walked out of the room before Gabriella could protest."

Once he was gone, Marcus closed the door and sat on the edge of Gabriella's bed. "I have to tell you something."

"What?"

"I know who hit you."

"Who was it? Was it-"

"Danielle." Marcus said, cutting Gabriella off.

Gabriella almost burst out laughing. There was no was Danielle hit her. She laughed, "Shut up."

"It's the truth."

"Danielle doesn't have the balls to do something like that."

Marcus scoffed, "Danielle goes bat-shit crazy when she sees another girl with Troy. She's a psycho." He twirled his finger around his temple. "A little nutty in the noggin if you know what I mean."

"But I'm Danielle's friend. She wouldn't try to hurt me."

Marcus shrugged, "I've seen how mean she can be. She run me down if I got in the way of her and Troy."

Gabriella let out a humorless chuckle, "Yeah, I know how mean Danielle can be."

"You just happened to be the unlucky victim this time. You don't want to know what she did to Wendy Cramer."

Gabriella was shocked by the information she just received. Danielle hit her in the face. With a fucking basketball.

"What a bitch."

* * *

Being home from school was amazing. Being home from school with a concussion, was not amazing.

Her parents said she wouldn't be going to school for the week, and they'd take her back to the hospital at the end of the week.

Gabriella had been in bed ever since she got home. She had watched the first two seasons of Law and Order: SVU and was now working on the third.

"Are you feeling any better?" Cristina asked, poking her head into Gabriella's room. "Do you need anything?"

"Mom, my answer is still no. You've asked me 6 times in the last 50 minutes."

"Just making sure."

"I'm fine. You can leave me be, now."

Cristina sighed, "Call me if you need me."

"I will, mommy."

Cristina closed the door behind her, leaving Gabriella alone.

Gabriella's phone buzzed on her nightstand. She reached over and grabbed it. One new text message.

_Danielle: Hey. How are you?_

Gabriella frowned. Some friend Danielle is. Gabriella was in the hospital for over 24 hours, and she didn't even visit. Then a day after Gabriella is released, she finally reach out. With a fucking text message. Not even a phone call. You'd think she'd be kissing Gabriella's feet considering she put her in the hospital.

_Gabriella: I'm fine._

_Danielle: I'm really sorry you got hurt at my party. I feel partially responsible._

_Bitch, you should feel 100% responsible, _Gabriella thought._ You did it._

_Gabriella: And why is that?_

_Danielle: It was at my house._

_Gabriella: Oh._

_Danielle: I got to go. I'm in class._

_Gabriella: Bye._

Gabriella put her phone back on her nightstand. She closed her eyes. Maybe a nap would do her some good. Her mom will probably freak out and check her pulse every 5 minutes, but it was a risk she was willing to take.

As soon as Gabriella closed her eyes, her phone buzzed again.

"What the hell?" Gabriella groaned, rolling over to grab her phone. This time, someone was calling her.

"What?" Gabriella snapped, after she answered.

"Good morning, starshine." Troy greeted. "The earth says hello."

"Troy! Hi!"

"You seem really cheerful."

"Sorry. I'm tired, I have a headache, my mother keeps coming in and out of my room, and I was about to take a nap." Gabriella explained, hoping Troy wouldn't think she was a snappy shrew.

"I'm sorry. I can call you back."

"No. I'm up now. You might as well talk to me."

"How are you feeling?" Troy asked.

"I'm ok. I got the plate of cookies your mother sent over. They are fantastic."

"I was supposed to give them to you last night, but I fell asleep."

"It's alright." Gabriella hears heavy breathing and panting in the background. "Troy?"

"Yes?"

"What are you doing?"

"Running in P.E."

"I thought something else was going on."

"Get you mind out of the gutter, algebra girl."

Gabriella yawned, "I should go. I'm really tired, but thank you for calling and checking up on me."

"Oh, I actually called to see if tutoring was canceled for the week." Troy joked.

"Yes, it's canceled."

"Good. Well, I guess I'll let you sleep, then."

"Goodbye."

"Bye."


	4. Liars and Cheaters and Storms! Oh My!

"Mom, when are you and daddy going to be home?" Gabriella asked, holding her cell phone in-between her ear and shoulder.

"Our shifts don't end for a while. I'm about to prep for surgery." Cristina replied. "A lady needs her gallbladder removed. Why?"

"I was just curious." Gabriella said, looking out the window in Troy's bedroom. It was dark and grey outside and it was raining.

"Would it have anything to do with the fact that there is going to be a storm later?"

"That might be a factor." Gabriella admitted. "A major one."

"Where are you, honey?"

"I'm at Troy's house right now."

"Ok, you should stay there. I don't want you driving."

"Mom, I'm fine right now."

"Are you going to be alright?"

Gabriella nodded, "Yeah."

"Alright. I have to go. I'll talk to you later, Gabriella."

"Bye mom. I love you."

"Love you too."

Gabriella pressed the 'End' button on her phone and put it back in her pocket. She did not want to be caught driving in the middle of a storm so staying here would be Gabriella's safest bet.

"Gabriella, are you hungry?" Troy asked, walking back into his room. "I just ordered a pizza."

"What kind?"

"Pepperoni." Troy answered. "My parents are in Santa Fe for my mom's friend's wedding and they won't be back until tomorrow, so I have to fend for myself."

"Pepperoni is fine." Gabriella said. "Would you mind if I stayed here for a few hours? My parents are still working and I don't want to be left alone."

Troy smiled, "Sure. We'll have ourselves a pizza party."

"No. We're gonna get back to tutoring."

"You just totally put a damper on my mood." Troy groaned. "What happened to the fun Gabriella at the pool party last month? The one that pushed my brother into a pool? Remember her?"

"She got hit in the head and is still recovering from concussion symptoms." Gabriella answered. It had been 4 weeks since Danielle's party-another crappy one to add to Gabriella's list-and she was suffering from post-concussion syndrome. Life was a bitch.

"Still don't know who hit you?" Troy asked.

"No." Gabriella lied. "I guess it's just one of those unsolved crimes."

Troy shook his head, "It's one thing to hit someone, but it's another thing to send them to the hospital and a month later, still not say anything. Whoever did this to you, is disgusting."

Gabriella wasn't going to mention that Danielle was the one who hit her. It wasn't really necessary to spill and she could probably use it if she ever wanted to blackmail Danielle.

Gabriella shrugged, "Whatever. The person who did it is going to get karma eventually. I don't really care anymore."

"You're a big person Gabriella."

Gabriella's eyebrows arched, questioningly, "What?"

"Not literally, but figuratively." Troy said, quickly. "Instead of fighting fire with fire, you chose to be the bigger person and let it go. I like that, algebra girl."

"Thank you."

"Danielle's the type to fight until the end. She'll get even if it kills her."

"Yeah. Danielle and I can be different."

It got quiet between them. It was quiet for a while, until there was a crackle of thunder outside.

Gabriella turned to Troy's window. It was raining, the wind was blowing harshly, and there was a flash of lightning in the distance. She flinched.

Troy frowned, "Great. It starts raining as soon as I order a pizza."

"Any longer than 30 minutes, and it's free." Gabriella joked.

"You're-"

Troy was cut off by the darkness. His lights went out and his TV cut off. The power was out.

"Are you fucking serious?" Gabriella muttered.

"The storm caused this." Troy concluded.

"Wow, thanks Captain Obvious."

Troy smirked at Gabriella's sarcasm. "Cute, Montez, but sarcasm is not really needed at the moment, 'kay? Stay here, I'll try to find a flashlight or something."

"Alright."

Troy grabbed his cell phone and walked to out of his room, leaving Gabriella alone.

Gabriella brought her knees up to her chest. This was horrible. She was absolutely terrified of storms, and she had been ever since she was a little girl.

There was another loud roar of thunder and Gabriella jumped. She surveyed Troy's spacious bedroom, until her eyes landed on his closet. Perfect!

She moved off of Troy's bed and made her way to his closet. She pulled his door open and got inside.

Her phone rang. Gabriella pulled it out of her pocket and clicked 'Answer'.

"Hello." Gabriella greeted.

"Gabi." Lola said, on the other line. "Hey."

"What's up?"

"I was just calling to check up on you." Lola told her. "What are you doing?"

Gabriella sighed and looked around Troy's closet. "Oh nothing."

"Are you ok? I heard there's a storm in Albuquerque."

"I'm fine, Lo."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just...I just really, really hate storms."

"I know. You want me to stay on the phone with you until it's over?"

"No. I'm at Troy's house, and he went to go find a flashlight or something."

"Ok. Call me when the storm passes."

"I will. Enjoy the nice Los Angeles weather."

"I will. Bye."

"Bye." Gabriella hung up.

Yup. Now Gabriella was alone again. Just her, and probably 20 Nike shoe boxes, sitting in a closet.

"Gabriella?" Troy called. Gabriella could hear his footsteps. "Gabriella, where are you?"

"I'm in the closet." Gabriella replied.

The closet door opened and Gabriella looked up and saw Troy standing over her.

Troy's brow furrowed and he bit his lip in confusion. "Is there a party going on in here?"

"No."

"Why are you in here?"

"I'd rather not say."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty positive."

Troy crouched down and squeezed himself into his closet. "I guess we'll just sit in here. Closets are pretty fun."

"Great. Now it's a party."

"Gabriella, why are we in here? You want to look at the dust collecting on my shoe boxes? You like the smell of Tide and fabric softener?"

"I have astraphobia." Gabriella blurted out.

"Oh. Astraphobia. You should go get that checked out."

"You have no idea what astraphobia is, do you?"

Troy shook his head, "Not a clue, algebra girl."

"Its a phobia of thunder and lightning." Gabriella explained.

"That makes sense."

"I've been afraid of them ever since I was a little girl. When I was four, there was a huge storm and I freaked out, so I ran to my closet and I stayed there all night. My mom stayed with me in that closet for hours, and hours. Every time there's a storm, I panic."

Troy gave her an understanding nod, "Well that sucks."

"You probably think I'm ridiculous. A 16 year old girl afraid of a little thunder and lightning."

"No." Troy stated. "I don't think you're ridiculous."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Want to know a secret?"

Gabriella smiled, "Sure."

"Marcus is afraid of bridges."

"Bridges?"

"Yeah. When he thinks of bridges, he thinks of falling into the water and dying a slow death."

"Wow, I wouldn't peg Marcus as a person who is afraid of bridges."

"Well he is. He doesn't like when I tell people, though, so don't mention it in front of him, ok."

"I won't."

They heard the thunder again and Gabriella winced. Troy held his hands out. "Come here."

"What are you doing?"

"Give me a hug." Troy ordered.

Gabriella scoffed, "A hug?"

"Yeah. It'll help if you hug someone."

"Troy-"

Troy wrapped his arms around Gabriella, "There you go. Just enjoy the hug."

"I feel really embarrassed right now." Gabriella admitted.

"Why? It's not like I'm going to make fun of you."

"I know you're being nice and comforting, but I still feel embarrassed. No one likes to admit fear."

"The first step to getting help is admitting you have a problem."

"I'm not a drug addict."

"Well is there something you can do for a phobia?" Troy asked.

"I can go to therapy." Gabriella answered.

"Well I can't help you there, but I can think of one way you can get over your anastobia."

"Astraphobia." Gabriella corrected, chuckling at Troy's butchering of the word.

"You say tomato, I say sweet potato...fries."

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "How are you going to help me with my astraphobia?"

"We can go sit outside." Troy suggested. "One way of dealing with a fear is confronting it."

Gabriella shook her head, and pushed herself away from Troy. "No way in hell, Bolton."

"Come on." Troy coaxed. "It'll be alright."

"I'm not going out side in the middle of the storm."

Troy stood up and grabbed Gabriella's wrist and pulled her up, "I'm gonna make you go out there with or without your consent."

Gabriella struggled against Troy's hold on her. "Troy! I'm not going out there. Let me go."

"Nope." Troy pulled Gabriella towards the sliding glass doors that led to the backyard. "We'll stand out here for a few minutes, you realize that storms are nothing to he afraid of and then we go back inside. This whole thing will take 5 minutes. 10 at the most."

Gabriella turned around and started making her way towards the door, but Troy grabbed her. "Troy, stop."

"Algebra girl, relax."

"No." Gabriella said, defiantly.

"Why not?"

"I might get struck by lightning."

Troy rolled his eyes, "The chances of getting struck by lightning are 1 in 280,000."

"How do you know an exact number."

"I Googled it one day."

Gabriella folded her arms across her chest, "Well, I'm still not going to stand in the rain, with thunder-"

Troy pulled Gabriella out towards his basketball court. They were instantly met with the downpour of rain.

"Troy!" Gabriella exclaimed. She punched his shoulder. "Why'd you pull me out here?"

"I'm helping you face your fear."

Gabriella saw flash of lightning and she grabbed Troy's hand. "I don't want to face my fear. I want to go back inside."

Troy heard the sense of urgency in Gabriella's voice and he instantly felt bad, "I'm sorry."

Gabriella let go of Troy's hand, "Yeah." She started walking back towards Troy's bedroom. She slid the door opened and stepped inside.

"You're soaking wet." Troy stated. Gabriella rolled her eyes. "I'll go get some towels."

Troy walked out of his room and came back a minute or so later with two huge towels. He gave one to Gabriella.

"I'm sorry." Troy repeated. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Gabriella wrapped the towel around her hair and tried to take a deep breath. Her chest was tight and her hands were clammy. Troy failed at his attempt to help Gabrielle, but he succeeded in almost getting her to have a panic attack.

"Look, I know you mean well and you only wanted to help me, but I wasn't hiding in your closet for fun. I get really freaked out and-"

Troy grabbed Gabriella's shaking hand. He didn't realize how scared she was until now. "I was out of line, and I over-stepped by boundaries, and I apologize."

"Apology accepted."

"I would give you my sister's shirt but she's 14. I don't know if you'd be able to fit one of them."

"You have a sister?" Gabriella asked. "I didn't know that."

"Yeah. Yasmine is 14, a freshman, and is stuck at Sharpay's house right now due to the storm."

"I don't care what kind of shirt it is, honestly."

Troy shook his head, "No. She'd kill me for going through her room and I might give you her 'favorite' shirt that brings out the 'sparkle' in her eyes."

"Yeah, if her eyes are blue, you can't give me a blue shirt." Gabriella explain, a hint of a smile tugging at her lips.

Troy walked over to his drawer. "I'll just give you one of mine." He pulled an old East High shirt out and tossed it to Gabriella. "I have 7 of these shirts so I don't care about why you do with it."

"Thank you." Gabriella walked to Troy's bathroom to change her shirt.

"I'll put your shirt in the laundry room when you're done." Troy called.

"Ok."

Gabriella removed the towel from her head, and frowned. Her hair was a mess and she looked like a wet dog. _Thank you Troy_, she thought.

Gabriella pulled her shirt over her head and placed it on the counter. She grabbed Troy's shirt and put it on. It said 'East High Basketball' and had a wildcat underneath the words. It was huge on Gabriella's small frame.

Gabriella opened the door and stepped back into Troy's bedroom. "Thanks for letting me borrow your shirt."

Troy took Gabriella's shirt out of her hands, "Well it's my fault this one got ruined."

"I'm over it."

"Are you sure? I feel really bad."

"You had the right intentions. I'm not mad. _But_ of you even think of doing that again, I'll kick your ass. Are we clear?"

"Crystal."

Gabriella smiled, "Great."

Troy turned to the window. He could hear the rain pounding against it. "This storm is showing no signs of stopping. You're gonna be stuck here for a while."

"Yay. We're stuck in a house, in the middle of a storm, there is no power, no heat, and no food, and I'm starving."

"You want a Pop Tart? You don't need any type of cooking appliance to eat those."

"What kind?"

"S'mores."

"Yeah, I'll have a Pop Tart."

"Ok."

* * *

Gabriella woke up with a major crook in her neck. She looked around her room and realized she was in Troy's bedroom. On the floor. With a half-eaten Pop Tart stuck to her hand.

She looked up and saw Troy sprawled out on his bed, still sleep. He had his face in the croon of his elbow and Gabriella could hear him lightly snoring.

Gabriella got up and walked to the side of his bed and nudged his leg. No response. She tried it again, but with a little more force. Troy still didn't move.

Gabriella hit the back of Troy's leg and Troy jumped up. "What's going on? What's happening?"

"Wake up, Bolton." Gabriella ordered.

"I'm up, I'm up." Troy assured, sitting up in his bed. "What time is it?"

Gabriella looked at the time on her phone, "6:38."

"In the morning?" Gabriella nodded. Troy let out a yawn, "Why are we up so early algebra girl?"

"I'm just letting you know that I'm going home." Gabriella said.

"Oh. Well I'll see you at school on Monday."

Gabriella dug into her front pants pocket to pull out her house key, but she didn't feel it. She dug into her other pocket. Same results.

"What are you looking for?" Troy asked.

"My house key."

"Do you have a key chain?"

"Yeah, but my house key isn't on it."

"Why? That's like having a car, but no driver's license."

Gabriella snapped her fingers, "I left it at Danielle's house. I was there before I came here."

"Alright, I'll see you later." Troy gave Gabriella a quick hug. "The roads are still wet so drive safe."

"I will. Now you can go back to sleep."

"Trust me, I will."

* * *

Gabriella walked up the steps to Danielle's front door. Danielle's car was the only one in the driveway, so her parents must have got called in to work.

She was about to ring the doorbell, when it opened and a guy bumped into her. "What the-"

"Gabriella?"

Gabriella looked up at the guy in front of her. He looked familiar, but she didn't know who he was. "Hi. And you are?"

"Cole." The guy replied.

Gabriella eyed Cole. He looked disheveled and flustered. "Hi Cole. Is Danielle here?"

"Yeah. She's upstairs in her room."

Gabriella stepped inside the house, "Great. Bye Cole." She closed the door on him.

Gabriella walked up the stairs and stopped at Danielle's door. She knocked on the door and Danielle opened it.

"Cole I told you to go-Gabriella?"

Gabriella smirked, "Sorry to disappoint you, Danielle."

"What are you doing here?" Danielle asked.

Gabriella pushed past Danielle and sat down on her bed, "Did I leave my key here?"

Danielle walked to her dresser and tossed Gabriella a silver key. "Sorry. I was going to call you, but my battery died and the power went out and I was busy."

"Screwing your fuck buddy, Cole?" Gabriella guessed. "Yeah that would keep me busy too."

"Gabriella it isn't like that." Danielle defended.

"Oh it isn't? I bumped into him and his shirt was unbuttoned, his hair was ridiculously disheveled, and you," Gabriella pointed to Danielle, who was only in a pair of black yoga pants and a bra, "aren't wearing a freaking shirt!"

Danielle grabbed her robe that was sitting on her chaise lounge, and put it on. "Look, Cole and I just, slipped up."

"How can you do this to Troy?" Gabriella questioned. "You do remember Troy, don't you? He's been your boyfriend for over a year."

"Like, I said before, I slipped up." Danielle eyed Gabriella closely. She walked towards the brunette and sniffed her shirt. "Where did you get the shirt?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your shirt smells like Troy's Ralph Lauren cologne." Danielle stated. "Is it his?"

Gabriella nodded, "Yeah."

"Why are you wearing my boyfriend's shirt?"

"Because my other shirt got ruined and he gave me a new one." Gabriella explained. "And I don't have to explain myself to you. I'm not the who got caught cheating."

"Well I don't have to explain myself to you. You aren't my boyfriend."

"Neither is Cole!" Gabriella rebuttaled.

Danielle sighed, "Are you going to tell Troy?"

"Are you?"

"Are you going to force me?"

Gabriella shrugged, "Are you going to continue to fuck Cole behind his back?"

"No."

"Then I won't tell him."

Danielle smiled, "Good. Cole was never here and you didn't see anything."

Gabriella bit her lip. She wouldn't need to ruin Danielle's life. _Cheating on Troy and sending me to the hospital?, _Gabriella thought. _Danielle is doing such a good job fucking her life up by herself._


	5. Game Changer

A/N: I have a few things to say before the chapter starts:

1) Troy and Danielle will not be breaking up anytime soon. They will break up, but the plot calls for them to stay together for a little while longer. *enter angry rant here*

2) I love that you guys hate Danielle so much. I really do. Every time someone says she's a crazy bitch-which is fairly often-or an awful person, my heart warms with pride. She's the stereotypical mean girl with narcissistic and sociopathic tendencies that we just love to hate. But, we'll find out soon that she does have a heart where most people will say that there is a black hole.

3) Things are definitely going to take a turn for the scandalous in this chapter. Let's just say, Gabriella finally gets to Danielle, but not before Danielle gets to her first.

Anywho, enjoy! Let me know what you think guys. :)

* * *

"Wait just a hot a second!" Taylor exclaimed, staring at Gabriella with wide eyes. "Danielle is cheating on Troy?"

Gabriella gave Taylor a slight nod, "Yeah, with some guy named Cole."

"Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack. She admitted it to me."

Taylor scratched her head in shock and confusion. "I knew she was a slut, but considering how possessive Danielle is of Troy, you'd think she'd be all over him and not jumping the star pitcher of the baseball team."

"You would think that, but Danielle is a mystery."

"Are you going to tell Troy?" Taylor asked.

Gabriella shook her head, "No."

"What? Why not?"

"It's not my place to say. I'm not Troy nor am I Danielle. It isn't my relationship."

"You're letting her cheat on him?"

"I'm not letting her do anything. Danielle is old enough to make her own decisions. If she wants Troy to live in ignorant bliss, then so be it. Besides, Danielle said she'd stop."

Taylor gave Gabriella a disapproving head shake. "Wow. You actually believe her?

Gabriella sighed, "Tay, don't give me that look."

"I know you're Danielle's best friend, but come on."

"Taylor, just cut me some slack."

"Fine. But why did you tell me if we're going to keep it a secret?"

"I couldn't keep a burden like that on myself. I had to tell someone."

Taylor frowned, "Why did tell me? Now the burden is placed on me, and you know how much I hate Danielle. If she says something to me that I find offensive, I just might let it slip out that she's sleeping with someone that isn't Troy Bolton."

"I'll pay you. Every time Danielle says something mean to you, and you don't take the bait, I'll give you $20. I'll probably end up owing you $200 by the end of the week."

"I don't need your money, Gabs."

"Well what do you want?"

"You don't have to bribe me. I won't say anything."

"Thank you. You're great."

Taylor smiled, "I know. But thanks for reminding me."

* * *

"Yo! Montez!" Someone called out. Gabriella turned around and saw running towards, a paper in his hand.

Troy wasn't able to come to a halt and he slammed into Gabriella, knocking her down, and falling down at top of her.

"I'm starting to think you don't like me Bolton, because every time I turn around, you are knocking me down. Either that or you like having me under you."

Troy smirked, "Oh, algebra girl, you slay me."

Gabriella looked around the crowded hallway. People were staring at her and Troy and the compromising position they were in. Awkward. "Troy?"

Troy looked down at Gabriella. "Yes?"

"Get off of me."

"Oh!" Troy rolled over and pulled himself up from the floor. He extended his hand to help Gabriella up. "I'm sorry. Are you alright?"

Gabriella laughed, "I'm good, Troy. Now what were you running down the hall, screaming my name for?"

Troy pushed his paper into Gabriella's face, "We got an A+ on our power-point for science."

Gabriella smiled, "Are you serious?"

"Yes! You and I spending our entire weekend working on it paid off." Troy gave Gabriella a high-five.

"I guess our non-existent social lives aren't as important as our grades."

"You sound like my mother."

"Yay. I live to sound like people's mothers." Gabriella joked. "Especially Lucille Bolton."

"All you need is the super thick Texan accent and you'll be good to go."

Gabriella opened her locker door and pulled her French 3 book out. "Even though we got an A on this assignment, we can't get too cocky. What time should we do tutoring today?"

"I can't do it today."

Gabriella closed her locker door and turned around, "Why not?"

"I am going to Santa Fe for my birthday dinner." Troy told her.

"It's your birthday?" Troy nodded. Gabriella gasped and hit his shoulder. "Happy birthday!"

"What'd you hit me for?" Troy asked, rubbing his shoulder. "You hit really hard."

"Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday? Friends are supposed to tell their friends when it's their birthday."

"It just never came up."

"I have to get you a gift. What do you like?"

"Montez, you don't have to get me anything."

"What's your shoe size?" Gabriella asked, ignoring what Troy just said.

"11. And you seriously aren't going to buy me shoes are you?"

Gabriella shrugged, "Maybe. Who knows what I'll do. I'm not very predictable."

"Ok, but if you're going to buy me shoes, I love-"

"Nikes." Gabriella finished.

"You know me pretty well."

"I do. Is Danielle going to Santa Fe with you?"

"No. She can't be around my family for long periods of time."

Gabriella bit her lip to hold in a laugh. Of course Troy's family would hate Danielle.

"Well that sucks."

"Yeah, but it's whatever. I've gotten used to Danielle and my family being separated. My mother has absolutely no filter and neither does Danielle. It's just best to keep those two separated. She and I will celebrate my birthday on the weekend."

She'll probably just spend your birthday with Cole, Gabriella thought, shaking her head.

Gabriella pushed the thought out of her head. "Just so you know, my birthday is December 14th and I love anything cupcake and Sephora related."

Troy smiled, "Thanks for the heads up."

* * *

"What are you going to do for Troy's birthday?" Gabriella asked, sitting in Danielle's bedroom. "Since you can't celebrate with him tonight."

Daniella groaned, "I swear, his mother hates me. She's had it out for me ever since we met."

"Why? Lucille is the nicest person on earth."

"Yeah, everyone thinks that, but me. I think she's too uptight and judgmental."

"She's your boyfriend's mother. Shouldn't you at least try to get along with Lucille?"

Danielle shrugged, "I should, but I'm not."

"Don't you think you should swallow your pride and just be the bigger person?"

"Look, I'm not in the mood to hear you tell me how to run my relationship." Danielle snapped. "I have everything under control."

Danielle picked up her cell phone and stared at the screen. She began tapping away.

"You have everything under control?" Gabriella repeated, incredulously. "Really?"

"Yes."

"Are you still talking to Cole?" Gabriella asked.

Danielle looked up from her phone. "Why would you think that?"

"You're texting him right now." Gabriella stated, pointing to Danielle's phone. "And I'm not stupid, Danielle."

"Can you spare me the lecture, Gabriella?"

"You and I had an agreement. You stopped seeing Cole, and I don't tell Troy I caught you cheating on him. Does that jog your memory?"

"You seriously aren't going to tell on your best friend are you?"

Best friend? That's pushing it. "Why don't you break up with Troy and be with Cole? That'd make things so much easier."

"I don't want to break up Troy." Danielle said. "I like being with him and he's nice, and funny, and athletic. Cole isn't anything special."

Gabriella was in utter shock. Danielle was willing to throw away her stable, dependable, happy relationship for a fling that she gave two fucks about, and she didn't care.

"If Cole isn't anything special, why are you still seeing him?" Gabriella asked, trying to wrap her mind around Danielle's logic.

"Why do you care so much?"

Gabriella stood up and grabbed her purse, "Because Troy is my friend, too. And I am not just going to let you hurt him."

Danielle stood up also and looked Gabriella in her eye, "You aren't going to tell him anything, Gabriella. If you were smart, you'd know that would be a dumb thing to do."

Gabriella matched Danielle's stone cold stare, "You aren't going to intimidate me into keeping quiet. I'll see you at school." She walked out of Danielle's room.

* * *

The next day at lunch, everyone was quiet. Usually Danielle or Gabriella sparked a conversation, but the two "friends" were doing nothing but glaring at each other. No one else dared to speak in fear of Danielle's wrath.

Eventually, Troy's best friend, Chad spoke up, "So Troy, how was your birthday dinner?"

"It was great. I had a nice time out with my family."

"What type of presents did you get?"

"Chad!" Taylor exclaimed.

"What? It's a simple question."

"I got cash." Troy replied.

"Ooh," Sharpay cooed, "that's my favorite kind of gift."

Troy rolled his eyes, "I know, Sharpay."

Danielle cleared her throat, commanding everyone's attention. "What are we going to do for Halloween? It's in 12 days."

"Party?" Sharpay suggested.

Gabriella scoffed at the idea, "I'd like to do something that doesn't have the potential to kill me."

Taylor laughed, "Yeah I don't want to spend Halloween in the hospital."

"Trick-or-treating is always fun, no matter how old you are." Chad told everyone.

Danielle rolled her eyes, "Gabriella, you, me and Robin are going to dress up as devils."

Gabriella scrunched up her nose in disdain, "Devils? On Halloween? That is extremely cliché."

"We'll look great."

"No, we'll look ridiculous. And besides, I already have my costume picked out."

"Well change it."

"No! How many 16 year old girls dress up alike on Halloween? We aren't 5 year old triplets."

"Look, I know you were Los Angeles for a while, but don't forget how things work out here, Gabriella."

"Danielle, do you ever just get sick of being a tyrant?"

Danielle took a deep breath, "Gabriella, on Halloween you're going to come over to my house, you're going to put on your devil costume and you are going to do it with a fucking smile. Remember that if it wasn't for me, you'd probably be alone on Halloween, fat, and stuffing your face with Cheetos."

It seemed like the entire cafeteria went quiet and turned to the table in the center. No one dared to say a word. They were all waiting to see how Gabriella would react.

No matter how much Danielle hurt her, Gabriella was not going to give her the satisfaction of knowing that. She simply got up from the table and walked out of the cafeteria.

Troy turned to Danielle, his eyes full of shock and disappointment. "What the hell was that?"

"What?"

"Do you not hear yourself when you speak?"

"I know what I said."

"That was completely out of line."

"Spare me, Troy." Troy got up and Danielle grabbed his hand. "Wait. Where are you going?"

Troy pulled his hand out of Danielle's grasp. "I'm going to find Gabriella and make sure she's ok." Troy walked off, too.

After a few minutes of searching, Troy found Gabriella sitting in the gym, twirling a basketball around her fingers. He quietly walked up and sat down next to her on the floor.

Troy sighed dramatically, "Hey."

"What do you want?"

"I'm sorry about what Danielle said to you."

Gabriella shrugged, "I've always known that Danielle is mean. She knows that my weight has always been an issue, and she knows when to use it against me."

"Don't take what she says to heart."

"Why not? She means what she says and she won't take it back. I'll always be the fat girl."

"You're a lot more than the fat girl."

Gabriella wiped her eyes, "Thanks for being nice."

Troy wrapped his arm around Gabriella's shoulders. "I'm not just being nice. I'm being honest."

"I put so much effort in changing my appearance, and Danielle just cuts me down. Like she always does. I mean, I should be used to it by now. She's been doing it since we were 6."

"That doesn't mean you deserve it, or that she should do it."

"I mean after all the things I've done for her. I promised her that I wouldn't-" Gabriella stopped herself. She wasn't going to tell Troy his girlfriend was cheating.

"You wouldn't what?"

"It's a secret."

Troy looked at the time on his watch. "Lunch is almost over."

"Is that a new watch?"

"Yeah, it was a birthday gift."

"Oh, that reminds me." Gabriella pulled her wallet out of her purse. "I know you love Nikes, and I am horrible at picking men's shoes, so I'll just give you money to buy whatever shoes you like."

"I told you that you didn't have to get me anything."

Gabriella handed Troy two 100 dollar bills. "Happy belated birthday."

Troy groaned, dramatically, "Now I guess I have to get you an amazing gift for your birthday."

"Yeah, you do."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Troy asked, turning to look Gabriella in the eyes.

"I'm sure."

"And don't listen to what Danielle says. I think you rule, algebra girl."

Gabriella gave Troy a sad smile, "I think you rule, too."

Troy leaned in and pulled Gabriella in for a kiss. Gabriella's eyes widened.

_What the hell am I doing? _Gabriella thought. _What the hell?_

Gabriella pulled away and stared at Troy with wide eyes, "What was that?"

"I'm sorry. There was just a moment and-"

"God, you suck."

"Excuse me?"

"Why'd you have to kiss me now?" Gabriella asked. "The moment called for you to kiss me right now? I was just crying, I look a mess, and I was humiliated in front of the entire school."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't ever catch me in a bad moment like that again. I'll kill you."

Troy smirked, "Deal."

Gabriella stood up, "I'm going to fix my face before I go back into that cafeteria."

"I'll see you in there."

"Alright."

* * *

"Lola, I have had one hell of a day. No I have had one hell of a week."

Lola laughed, "What's going on in the ever so interesting city of Albuquerque?"

"This entire week has been crazy. I'm honestly a second away from punching Danielle in the face."

"What did she do?"

"She's just slut. A big fat slut."

"Are you just now realizing this, Gabriella?" Lola teased. "But what did she do?"

Gabriella walked into her closet and pulled out her gym bag, "For some odd reason, she still thinks she can control me and tell me what to do. Like I'm still her mindless puppet."

"What happened?"

"We were talking about Halloween and she said she already had my costume picked out for me." Gabriella started.

"When did you turn into a 5 year old?" Lola asked, sarcastically. "And when did Danielle become our mom?"

"That's what I'm saying. And so I tell her she's being ridiculous, and I call her a tyrant, and she says that without her I would be fat and alone."

Lola gasped, "What? Bitch has a whole lot of nerve."

Gabriella nodded in agreement. She could feel her blood boiling just thinking about what happened. "Lola, I have to call you back. I'm meeting Taylor at the gym. I need to do something before I destroy my room in a fit of short term rage."

"I'm gonna go get something to eat. I'll see you next month for Thanksgiving break."

"Bye." Gabriella hung up. She slung her gym bag over her shoulder and headed for the door when she heard a noise. It sounded like someone tapping on something. She turned around and saw Troy standing on her balcony.

Gabriella dropped her bag and walked over to the French doors that led to her balcony, and opened them. "Troy what are you doing here? How did you get up here?"

Troy stepped inside Gabriella"s room and closed the balcony doors behind him, "You should really move that ladder."

"Ok, but that doesn't really explain why you're-"

Gabriella was cut off by Troy's lips crashing on to her's capturing her in a heated kiss, catching her completely off guard. His hands flew to the back of her head, and tugged at her hair.

The logical thing to do would have been to push Troy away. To slap him and kick him out of the house. But when it came to Troy, the logical part of Gabriella's brain turned off.

Gabriella thought about how stupid she was being. She knew she was making a huge mistake. But then she thought of Danielle. Danielle and Cole, Danielle and her, and what Danielle said to her. _"If it wasn't for me, you'd probably be alone on Halloween, fat, and stuffing your face with Cheetos__." __"And it's not like you his type, anyway."_

Gabriella smirked. If Danielle was going to have fun, so was she. And she was going to have it with her boyfriend.


	6. It's Always The Quiet Ones

Pacing. Lots and lots of pacing. Thats what Gabriella has been doing all day long. She was pretty sure she had burned every calorie she had eaten the past 24 hours.

Someone knocked on her bedroom door, and Gabriella rushed over to answer it.

"Gabi!" Taylor exclaimed, rushing into Gabriella's room once she opened the door.

"Hey Taylor." Gabriella greeted, shutting the door behind her. "What's up?"

"Did you lose your phone?" Taylor asked. "I have called you at least 20 times, and as your best friend, I should have 24/7 access to you."

"I'm sorry."

"And why did you stand me up? I was at 24 Hour Fitness for the longest time and you were nowhere to be found."

Gabriella started pacing again and ran her hand through her hair. "Tay I did something really, really bad."

"Like you murdered someone?" Taylor guessed.

"No it's not that bad, but I'm pretty sure I am going to burn in hell for this anyway."

"What did you do, Gabs?"

"What I'm about to tell you goes to your grave, alright?"

"What's going-"

"To the grave!"

Taylor nodded, "To my grave. I won't tell a soul."

"You know Danielle and I get into a heated argument on Friday, right?"

"Yeah everyone was speechless. Troy was absolutely disgusted with her."

"So I go off to the gym and Troy follows me. And I'm crying my eyes out, which is something I never do, and Toy is there comforting me."

"Ok."

"He kissed me." Gabriella said.

"Gabriella Montez! You didn't."

"Yeah and so I pulled away and came back to the table."

"Wow."

"I know."

"Well it was just a kiss." Taylor said. "I mean, a kiss is completely harmless. Nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, nothing to worry about."

Taylor stared at Gabriella, "It was just one kiss, right?"

"Well..."

"You kissed him again?"

"He kissed me again." Gabriella corrected. "And then we had sex."

"No!" Taylor exclaimed.

"Yes!"

"Oh my goodness. How?"

"You know how, Tay!"

Taylor rolled her eyes, "I don't need those details. Before the sex, what happened?"

"I was getting ready to leave to go to the gym, and I heard tapping on my window. So I opened the balcony door and Troy was standing there. The next thing I know, he's kissing me."

"Wait a minute. He didn't...force you, did he?"

Gabriella shook her head, "Of course not. We didn't do anything I didn't want to do."

"What the hell were you thinking?"

Gabriella shrugged, "I was thinking that I was really pissed at Danielle. I wanted to do something that would hurt her."

"You can't base your actions off of what someone does to you."

"I know everyone says 'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.' and all that shit, but its false. You never forget when someone degrades you over and over again. And Danielle has been doing it since we were 6, and I finally reached my breaking point, so I slept with her boyfriend."

"So what does this mean? Are you and Troy together now?"

"Not at all. He's still with Danielle."

"So you guys just hooked up on a whim?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"I'm shocked, but I'm not shocked in a way."

That definitely confused Gabriella. "What do you mean?"

"I'm shocked to hear that you two actually went that far, but it's not shocking considering the amount of sexual tension there is between you guys. I mean, you guys are so obvious with your flirting. I guess it was only a matter of time before you two slept together."

"We do not flirt." Gabriella argued, even though she knew she was lying through her teeth.

Taylor rolled her eyes, "Let's say that you don't, but you do. And it is pretty obvious."

"Taylor, what am I going to do? I haven't seen Troy since it happened. He's called and texted me a few times, but I can't reply."

"Wait, you guys didn't talk after...well you know?" Taylor questioned.

"God no! I ran off to my bathroom and stayed there until he was gone. Do you know how awkward talking to him would be right after sleeping with him? And who talks after sex, anyway? And you know I'm neurotic. I probably would have had an anxiety attack if I laid there long enough to actually think about what I had just done."

Taylor chuckled, "It's look like you've finally let it sink in."

"I've been stress eating and pacing all day long."

"How bad is it?"

"I ate an entire pack of double stuffed Oreos. I feel absolutely disgusting."

"You're going to have to face him sooner or later." Taylor pointed out. "You can't run away."

"Don't remind me, Tay."

"Is he going to tell Danielle?"

Gabriella shrugged, "I wouldn't know. I haven't talked to Troy."

"Well, are you going to tell Danielle?"

"Why would I?"

"She is your friend."

_Ugh, I am so sick of the words 'friend' and 'Danielle' being used in the same sentence_. "Yeah, so why would I tell her? It would ruin our friendship, and I don't want that." Gabriella lied. "And Troy loves Danielle, so why ruin their relationship?"

"I guess that makes sense."

"Besides, maybe you're right. Maybe there was just some sexual tension that needed to be released, but it's done now."

"So you two aren't going to be seeing each other anymore?"

"We aren't going to be seeing each other naked in my bed anymore, if that's what you mean, but he's still my friend-if we're still friends because I've been avoiding him-and we go to school together, we have classes together, and we hang out with the same people. We are going to see each other."

"Well lunch tomorrow is most definitely going to be awkward."

"Oh yeah." Gabriella agreed.

* * *

It was Monday morning when Gabriella's phone rang. Five in the morning to be exact. Who in their right mind would call someone at five in the morning on a Monday?

Gabriella grabbed her phone from her nightstand, and without looking, she answered.

"What?"

"Thanks for finally answering my calls, algebra girl."

Gabriella sat up and yawned, "Troy? Why the hell are you calling me at this ungodly hour?"

"I've been calling you all day. Why did you answer at this ungodly hour?"

Gabriella could practically feel Troy smirking. She rolled her eyes, "No need for sarcasm."

"We have to talk?"

"Can we do this when we don't have to get ready for school in an hour?"

"Please?"

"Fine."

"Great."

"Ok."

Troy chuckled, "Open your balcony door."

"You're on my balcony again?" Gabriella asked, incredulously. She pulled her duvet back, slipped her feet into her slippers, and walked to her balcony doors.

"Yeah. I like your balcony. I might come in this way instead of using your front door."

Gabriella opened the door and saw Troy standing in front of her. "Do that, and I'll kill you." She hung up her phone.

Troy slipped his phone in the pocket of his sweatpants. He looked Gabriella up and down and laughed.

"What's so funny, Bolton?"

"I just love your pajamas."

Gabriella had on a white tank top with a big cupcake on it, pajama bottoms with various cupcakes, and bunny slippers. Her hair was in a messy bun, and her gel eye mask was hanging around her neck.

Gabriella stepped out onto her balcony. "I'm sorry. I didn't exactly have time to fix myself up, seeing as I was sleeping when you called me. I'll probably be more presentable in a few hours."

Troy sat down in a chair that was nestled in the corner of the balcony. "Someone's a bit snappy."

"Yeah, I am. I'm not a morning person."

"Obviously."

"Troy it's 5:20 in the morning. What do you want?"

"Are you ok?"

"What do you mean?"

Troy sighed, "You've been ignoring me."

Gabriella opened her mouth to say something, but Troy held his hand up to silence her.

"Don't try to deny it, Montez. I called you, I texted you, I've sent you e-mails. You're ignoring me."

"And if I am?"

"Why?"

"Do you not see how awkward things are between us? You're one of my closest friends and we slept together. You're also my best friend's boyfriend."

"Things are awkward between us because you're making them awkward." Troy replied. "Who hides in their bathroom after sleeping with someone?"

"Gabriella Montez, that's who."

"I don't regret it." Troy said. "I don't regret us."

"There is no "us"."

Troy scoffed, "There's something between us, algebra girl. Who knows what it is. Friendly, sexual, playful, banter-y. Whatever it is, it's there. And there is an "us"."

"I don't regret it either." Gabriella admitted. "But we crossed the line."

"I agree. I mean, I love Danielle."

"Are you going to tell her?"

Troy shook his head, "Are you?"

"No. I don't feel the need to tell her."

"Ok. I guess this will be our little secret. You and me."

"And Taylor." Gabriella muttered.

"What'd you say?"

"I told Taylor." Gabriella confessed. "I'm sorry. I was freaking out and I had to tell someone."

"Ok. So you, me, and Taylor know."

"Yes. Just us three."

"Good." Troy stuck his hand out, "Friends?"

"Friends."

"No more awkwardness? You're going to answer my calls?"

"Yes."

Troy smiled, "Then my work here is done."

Gabriella yawned, "I need a large cup of coffe. I'm gonna go to Starbucks."

"You gonna drive to Starbucks in your cupcake pajamas, and bunny slippers?" Troy teased.

"Maybe I will. I'm not ashamed of my pajamas."

"I'd go with you, just to see you do it."

"I'm sure you would."

Troy got out of the chair and started to make his way to Gabriella's door when she stopped him. "Montez, what are you doing?"

"Where are you going?"

"Into your room, so I can go out the front door."

Gabriella shook her head, "No way!"

"Why not?"

"Remember the last time you snuck up my balcony, and came into my room?"

Troy frowned, "Oh so that's how it's going to be?"

"Yup." Gabriella walked back into her room. "See you school, Bolton." She closed the door.

She could say things wouldn't be awkward, and everything would be strictly platonic between her and Troy until she was blue in the face, but it wouldn't work. Troy was right. There was something between them and things were about to get _a lot _more messy.

* * *

"Somebody please remind me as to why we have to take theatre." Chad groaned, leaning his head on Taylor's shoulder.

"Because we need a visual or performing art credit to graduate." Sharpay explained.

"But it's so boring." Chad whined.

"Theatre is great." Sharpay argued. "It's easy, and it's fun if you are put it a group with fun people."

"Chad just doesn't like to do work." Taylor said.

"He isn't doing any work. Everyone else has helped in writing the script, except Chad."

Chad sat back up, "I resent that Gabriella. I had some really good ideas."

"We aren't going to write a play about a man, who finds out his wife is a zombie, and he has to kill her."

Chad shrugged, "It's a great story."

"We aren't going to run with it, Chad. Sorry."

Robin looked up from her cell phone, "We don't we do a play on the high school kids like us. Popular kids who are smart, athletic, upper middle class to rich. Give everyone else a taste of what it's like to be popular. The lying, backstabbing, cheating."

Gabriella could feel Robin's eyes burning into the side of her face. Gabriella turned to her, "Good idea."

Robin smiled, "Yeah, I thought so."

The bell rang and everyone got their stuff and started to leave the classroom, but Gabriella, Troy and Robin stayed behind.

Troy walked over to Gabriella, "You're in a better mood than earlier this morning."

"Two cups of coffee will do that to a girl."

"Thanks to you, I got a stratch on my arm."

"How is that my fault, Troy?"

"Well I fell into a bush."

Gabriella frowned, "It's not my fault you have bad hand-eye coordination and you're clumsy."

Troy put his hand over his chest, "That hurt."

"I'm sorry."

Troy grabbed Gabriella's hand, "We good, right?"

Gabriella gave Troy a nod, "Yeah, we're good."

"Alright." Troy slung his backpack over his shoulder. "See you in physics."

"See you."

Troy walked out of the room. Once he was gone, Robin walked over to Gabriella. "We have to talk, Gabriella."

"Ok. Talk."

Robin pulled out her cell phone, and handed it to Gabriella. "This photo speaks for itself."

Gabriella looked at the phone. In front of her, was a picture of her and Troy kissing. "Robin-"

"I went to follow you the other after you and Danielle argued. Imagine my surprise when I see this. I wonder how Danielle will react if she sees this."

"You gonna show it to her?"

"Maybe I will."

"Show her." Gabriella said, bluntly.

"Excuse me?"

Gabriella shrugged, "Go ahead. Show it to her, don't show it to her. I don't really care either way."

"You d...don't care?" Robin stammered.

"Nope. But you had Friday to tell her, Saturday, yesterday, and the first half of today to show her the picture, but you didn't. Why? Because you aren't going to."

"I'm not?"

Gabriella shook her head, "No, you aren't. Besides, what do you gain by telling her? Her trust? Is it a test to show your loyalty? You're about as loyal as a dog. If you want my spot as Danielle's lapdog, take it. Like I said before, I don't care. It won't hurt my feelings."

Robin was speechless. She thought she'd have the upperhand on Gabriella, but Gabriella didn't care. You can't hurt someone, who doesn't give a shit.

"I'm glad we had this talk Robin. Let's do it again sometime, ok?" Gabriella smiled and walked past Robin, who was still in shock. Danielle wasn't the only master of manipulation in their circle of friends.


	7. Acting, Suspicions, and Being Platonic

"Lola, when are you going to get here?" Gabriella asked. "I need some serious Lola time right now."

"I need some serious Gabriella time. By the end of the semester, I am going to have a head full of grey hair."

Gabriella opened her pantry door and scanned the shelves in search of something to eat. "Stressed?"

Lola groaned, "That's such an understatement, Gabs."

"Well imagine when you're a high class lawyer in Los Angeles practicing entertainment law with hotshot celebrities."

"I'm liking the sound of that. And Adam Levine and I will live happily ever after. Or Leonardo DiCaprio."

"Lola, he just turned 38 years old! There is a 19 year age difference." Gabriella grabbed a bag of marshmallows, and frowned. 100 calories per marshmallow. Considering Gabriella wouldn't stop after one or two, she'd just pass.

"I'm 18. I'm a legal adult. You thought Big from Sex and The City was attractive. I'm pretty sure Chris Noth is almost 60, if you want to talk about age, you weirdo."

"There is something attractive about him. It's not just his facial features, it's the entire package. He's like the older Chuck Bass."

"Ok, you have issues."

"But, let's get back to my question. When are you getting here?"

"Two days." Lola answered. "What's going on with you?"

"We seriously need to have a face to face conversation."

"That does not sound good, Gabs."

"My life has been a mess." Gabriella said, opening a jar of caramel, and popping it into the microwave. "One big giant mess."

"Does this mess involve Danielle?" Lola questioned.

"Very much so." Gabriella grabbed a bag of sliced apples out of the refrigerator and dumped them into a bowl.

"What did she do?"

"It's more like what I did."

"Well what did you do?"

Gabriella poured the caramel over the apples. "Something that I probably shouldn't have done."

"Did you kill her?"

"This is the second time I've been accused of murder, and no, I did not kill Danielle."

"What happened?"

"I'm not going to tell you over the phone."

"You're no fun. I have a five page English paper to finish typing. How am I going to finish it now? I'm dying to know what's going on in Albuquerque. Oh God, did those words actually come out of my mouth? What's wrong with me?"

Gabriella laughed, "I don't know."

"I have to go. I'll see you in two days."

"Two days." Gabriella repeated. "Bye." She hung up. "Two days."

* * *

Troy drummed his fingers across the island in his kitchen and frowned in irritation. "It's Thanksgiving break and we're lucky enough to have a history project to keep us busy. Thank you Mr. Parker."

"It's not too bad. It's only a 10 page paper."

"And we have a bio project." Troy added. "Remind me to never sign up for an extra science course ever again in my life."

"We won't have to take biology next year, though."

Troy put his head in his hands, "You want to start bio?"

"Not at all. I'd rather work on history."

"What are you doing?"

"The Great Depression. What are you doing?"

"I don't know. I'm pretty sure I've fallen asleep in history at least 15 times since school started."

"And you have an A?"

"It's not like Mr. Parker actually grades our papers."

Gabriella shook her head, "You are unbelievable."

"Why thank you, Montez."

Troy smiled at Gabriella. He was glad things were finally getting back to normal between them. Yeah, he wasn't allowed anywhere near her bedroom anymore, and he was banned from climbing her balcony at random hours of the day, but he didn't care. He got his best friend back.

Gabriella tapped the textbooks that were on the island. "But seriously, we need to work on something."

"Or we can watch TV." Troy suggested.

"You told me that we were going to get some work done."

"We can work." Troy promised. "On watching TV."

"Troy, I dragged these heavy textbooks here and we aren't even-" Gabriella was cut off by the doorbell ringing. "You invited someone else over to not study with us?"

Troy shook his head, "No." He got out of his seat and walked to the front door. Gabriella followed behind him.

Troy looked through the peephole and saw three people standing on the other side of the door. He gasped.

"What's wrong?"

Troy grabbed Gabriella's hand and pulled her into the living room. "Crap!"

"Troy whats wrong with you?"

"Lisa, Becky, and Artie."

"Who?"

"My neighbor's really annoying nieces and nephew are here. They visit during the holidays and my mother always sets up "play dates" between us like I actually enjoy being around them."

"Ok..." Gabriella said, not actually getting where Troy was going.

"I don't want to be around them. You have to help me get rid of them."

"How?"

"I don't know. But please, please help me."

"I don't know."

"Please?" Troy pleaded.

Gabriella sighed, reluctantly. "Fine. Take off your shirt." She ordered, taking off her shoes.

"What? You want me to take off my-"

"Take it off!" Gabriella ordered.

"Fine." Troy surrendered. He starts unbuttoning his shirt. "I'll take off my shirt, Miss Bossy." Gabriella grabs at Troy's belt buckle and pulls it out of the loops in his jeans. "Déjà vu, huh? You, me, me shirtless."

Gabriella rolled her eyes, pulling her shirt over her head. She took the Bobby pins out of her hair so it came out of the neat bun it was in. "Now is not the time to be thinking about sex, Troy!"

Troy scoffed, "It isn't? We're getting naked! In the middle of my living room, which is kind of gross." The doorbell rang again. "Just a second!"

Gabriella pointed at the door, "Now go answer the door."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"I'm only in my pants!"

Gabriella nodded, "That's the point, Bolton."

"Oh." Troy said, suddenly getting the idea. "Alright I'll answer the door." He walked back over to the front door and opened it. "Hey guys."

Becky gasped, "H...hi Troy."

"Hi Becky."

"Ready to go bowling?" Lisa asked, tearing her eyes away from Troy's chest.

"Now is not a good time, Lisa."

"But you're mother said you didn't have plans."

"Troy?" Gabriella called out, in a voice that Troy did not recognize. She was using a fake accent.

Gabriella walked up to Troy and placed her arms around his waist. "Why did you leave me all-oh! Oh my, I didn't know we were having a party."

"Guys, this is...Opal." Troy chuckled slightly at the name. It was the first thing that came into his mind. He felt Gabriella's thumb nail dig into his lower back. She obviously didn't like the name. "Opal, I want you to meet Lisa, Becky, and Artie. They are my neighbor's nieces and nephew."

Gabriella smiled, "Nice to meet you."

Lisa nodded, "Right. So, we'll just be leaving now. Sorry to interrupt you two."

"You three have a good evening." Troy said before closing the door. Once he knew they were gone, Troy turned to Gabriella. "You're a genius."

Gabriella punched Troy's bicep, "Opal! Out of all the names in the world, you pick Opal!"

"I'm not the one who said, "Oh my, I didn't know we were having a party.". You sounded like a prostitute."

"So you name me Opal? Have you ever heard of a prostitute from New York named Opal?"

Troy laughed, "No, but it's too late to change it."

"I hate you."

"I owe you."

"Yeah, so if we ever have to pretend to have sex so I don't have to hang out with annoying people, I'm naming you Ashley or Leslie."

Troy's little sister, Yasmine walked into the living room. "Hey Troy who was at the-" She stopped when she got a look at Troy and Gabriella.

The three of them stayed silent for a while, no one saying a word. They all just looked at each other in shock. Yasmine looked at the shoes and shirts scattered around the living room floor and sighed. She turned back around and walked towards the staircase.

Gabriella glared at Troy, "I'm so embarrassed."

"Don't be. Yasmine doesn't mind. And besides, it was your idea to do this."

"You could've told me your sister was here."

"Does it matter?"

"Yes."

"Hey you did a really good Brooklyn accent." Troy said, changing the subject.

"What?" The random subject change caught Gabriella off guard.

"Nice accent."

"Oh. Well thanks."

Troy smiled at his successful deflecting. "You want Chinese food?"

"Chinese food?"

Troy nodded, "Yeah. I'll pay for it."

"Yeah, I could go for Chinese."

* * *

"When is Marcus coming out here?" Gabriella asked, stabbing her fork into her carton of egg rolls.

"His gets out here in three days." Troy answered. "What about Lola?"

"She gets out here tomorrow night." Gabriella did a little happy dance. "I'm so excited."

"Can't believe I'm going to say this, but I think I miss Marcus, too. It's weird not seeing someone that you saw everyday for most of your life, but as soon as he gets here, he's going to annoy me."

"Aw isn't sibling love great?"

"Yeah, it is."

Gabriella grabbed Troy carton, "Let's switch."

"You say that after you take my carton." Troy pointed out. "Your hands move faster than your mouth."

"You owe me, remember?"

"I paid for this all, in case you forgot. I thought we were even again."

"We aren't even until I say we are."

"So I'm basically you're bitch."

Gabriella held up her hands, "Your words, not mine."

"Well, what else do you want me to do?"

"I'll have to think of it."

Troy frowned, "This isn't going to be fun."

"Speak for yourself, Bolton."

Yasmine walked into the kitchen and snatched the carton out of Troy's hand, "Hey jerk, thank you for asking me if I wanted anything to eat."

"Oh, Yas! I forgot you were here."

"You're the worst babysitter on the planet."

"Hey! I don't shoo you away and invite my girlfriend over to have sex."

Yasmine rolled her eyes, "Really? What did I walk in on an hour ago? What was that?"

"We weren't having sex." Troy argued. "We-"

"I don't care." Yasmine told him. "Just warn me next time you want to take off your shirt and your belt with another person, off the opposite sex, who also doesn't have on a shirt. I promise I won't think that you're going to have sex with someone." She grabbed a fork off of the counter and walked away.

"Love you too, Yas."

"Whatever.

"Fine then, I take it back!"

Gabriella let out a giggle, "You two are adorable."

"I'm adorable. She's alright, I guess."

"I wouldn't go as far as to say you're adorable."

"Don't try to deny it. I am adorable."

"No. Puppies are adorable."

"I'll also accept sexy."

Gabriella handed Troy a fortune cookie. "Read your fortune, Bolton."

"You read yours first."

Gabriella snapped the cookie in half and pulled out a strip of paper. _"You will suffer hardships before you find happiness."_

"That sounds suckish." Troy deadpanned, opening his cookie. Gabriella nodded in agreement.

"Well, what does yours say?" Gabriella asked.

Troy looked at the paper and silently read the fortune to himself. _'True love is right in front of you.'_

"Well?"

Troy looked up at Gabriella, "You will come into money." Troy lied.

"I like your fortune a lot more than I like mine."

Troy folded the piece of paper and slipped it into his pocket. "Yeah."

* * *

The next evening, all Gabriella wanted to do was sleep. Eat a pint of Ben & Jerry's and sleep. She spent the entire night and the first few hours of the morning writing her paper for history, she went to the gym with Taylor for two hours, started her biology project-without Troy's help-and the coffee she drank was wearing off. All she wanted was sleep.

But no. For the past 10 minutes, her phone had been ringing. It was like a sign. As if life was saying, _"You dumbass. You actually think you're going to get some sleep. You're a silly little girl."_

After getting sick of listening to her ring tone, Gabriella answered. "What?"

"Gabriella!" Danielle exclaimed. "I've been calling you for the past 10 minutes."

"What's wrong?"

"We have some serious talking to do."

"About?"

"Troy."

"What about Troy?"

"These past few weeks, Troy has been acting really strange."

"Strange, how?"

"I don't know. Something is going on. And by something, I mean someone."

"Maybe you two just haven't spent time with each other."

"No. I can't believe I'm saying this but, I think Troy is cheating on me."

Gabriella's eyes widened, "Oh? Any specific girl?"

"No. And you have to help me find this mystery tramp so I can destroy her."

Gabriella winced, "Don't you think you're being a hypocrite?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you are cheating on him."

"That doesn't give him the right to cheat on me."

Gabriella shook her head, "That doesn't make sense."

"Look, I just need you to keep hanging out with him. You two are close. I'm sure you'll be able to find something out."

"He isn't going to tell me anything. He should be smart enough to know that we're friends and that I'm going to tell you."

"Guys are stupid. You can squeeze something out of him."

"I also know guys will never admit infidelity. They'll go to their graves swearing up and down that they did _not_ cheat."

"Look, you're smart, I'm sure you can figure something out."

"Danielle-"

"Great! I'll talk to you later. Bye."

Before Gabriella could say anything, she heard the phone click. She threw the phone down on her bed anmd groaned. Conversations with Danielle usually left her confused, angry, or ready to hit something. Sometimes all three.

The was a knock at her door. "I'm sleep." There was another knock. "I'm sleeping!"

The door opened, and Lola walked in, a huge suitcase at her waist, "Well wake your ass up!"

"Lola!" Gabriella sprang up out of her bed and ran to her sister. She pulled her into a hug. "I totally forgot you were flying in today."

Lola pulled back from the hug, "How could forget that?"

"I was really busy today, and I'm tired, and you coming home just totally slipped my mind."

Lola closed Gabriella's door and sat down. "Well let's not let it happen again."

Gabriella sat back down on her bed, "I'm just glad you're here."

"I am too. No school for a few weeks is just what I need. And you can finally tell me what's been going on with you. I have gotten absolutely no sleep because I've been thinking about what you did. So spill."

"Where do you want to start?"

Lola shrugged, "Where did we leave off?"

"I'm going to tell you everything that has happened, start to finish, no interruptions, alright?"

"What? No interruptions?"

Gabriella ignored Lola's comment and started with her story. "So after you and I talked a few weeks ago, when I was going to the gym, I never made it to the gym." Lola's eyebrow raised. "Because Troy came over. And he kissed me. And we had sex."

Lola's jaw practically fell to the ground and her eyebrows shot up. Her mouth opened, but Gabriella put her hand up to keep her silent.

"Yeah, I know. And it was really awkward and I was freaking out, but he snuck over here one morning and we talked it out and stuff. So we went back to being friends, but Robin knows that something is going on between me and Troy because she caught us kissing in the gym. She told me that she was going to tell Danielle but I convinced her not to do it. And right before you walked into my room, I was on the phone with Danielle and she told me that she thinks Troy is cheating on her and she wants me to find the mystery tramp, but in reality I'm the mystery tramp. Or I was the mystery tramp because the sex was a one time thing. But she's cheating on Troy so I called her a hypocrite but she didn't care." Gabriella took a deep breath. "I'm done."

"Whoa." Was all Lola could say. "Holy shit!"

"I know."

"You guys had sex!"

"Yes."

"And you were in your gym clothes! I can only imagine how unattractive you looked."

Gabriella frowned, "Lola, that's all you got out of the information I just told you?"

"Oh my goodness! You slept with him? Like legit slept with him?"

"Yes."

"Danielle doesn't know?"

"No. She suspects something is going on with Troy but she doesn't know about what we did."

"And she's cheating on him?"

"Yes."

"What type of fucked up couple are they?"

"I don't know."

"You should just tell her and break them up."

"I don't want to do that."

"Why not? You hate Danielle."

"True, but Troy says he loves her."

"They don't love each other." Lola argued. "They cheat on each other."

"I think as dysfunctional as this whole thing is, they love each other to a degree. They've been together for over a year and if it's not love, it's a strong mutual affection."

"Does Troy know about Danielle and whoever she's cheating with?"

"No, he doesn't have a clue."

"What about you and Troy?"

"What about us?"

"You two aren't sleeping together?"

Gabriella shook her head, "No."

"But you guys still hang out?"

"Yes."

"No more sex?"

"No. Strictly platonic."

"Gabriella, you guys had sex. That's not exactly platonic. Marcus and I are platonic, as are you and Taylor. But you and Troy? Not so much."

Gabriella sighed, "What should I do?"

"I don't know. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking for some advice."

"Well I've never seen or heard of anything so dysfunctional. And I live in Los Angeles. I definitely don't think that you and Troy should ever see each other with no clothes on, much less have sex again. At least while he's still with Danielle."

"Then I won't tell you about what about happened yesterday." Gabriella muttered.

"What happened yesterday?"

"That's a story for another time."

"While I don't approve of whatever the hell is going on between you and Troy, I'll have your back with whatever you decide."

"Really?"

"Of course. You could murder someone and I'd die saying you were innocent."

Gabriella smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Gabriella's phone buzzed. She grabbed it and clicked on her message icon.

_Danielle: I got a hold of Troy's phone! You and I have some serious hacking to do_.

Gabriella sighed, "Oh boy."


	8. Hallucinations & Revelations

Gabriella got to Danielle's house in a matter of minutes. She had never driven so fast in her entire life, but she had to get to her house fast. She had to make sure Danielle couldn't crack into Troy's phone.

Gabriella opened the door to Danielle's bedroom and saw Danielle sitting at her desk, staring at a white iPhone. "Hey."

Danielle looked up, "Hey. I hope you weren't doing anything important."

"I was planning on going to sleep." Gabriella replied.

"You can sleep when you're dead."

Gabriella walked over to Danielle's bed and sat down. "How did you get a hold of Troy's phone?"

"We were hanging out here, but he's at a dentist appointment right now. He has to get his wisdom teeth pulled. He left his phone. And the stupid phone has a stupid password. If we're lucky, he'll be too drugged out on anesthesia and painkillers to notice he doesn't have his phone."

Gabriella held out her hand. Danielle gave her the phone. Thank God Troy's password was a word and a not numerical combination. _In a 4 digit combination system, using the numbers 0 through 9 with repetition, there were only 10,000 different combinations Troy could chose from. Danielle would eventually figure it out. At least with a word password, the possibilities were endless._

Suddenly, Gabriella realized why Troy called her Algebra girl. She just did an algebraic equation-an extremely easy one, in her opinion-in her head in a matter of seconds. Oh, the irony of the situation was not lost on her.

"Do you know any of Troy's favorite things?"

"Try basketball." Gabriella suggested, giving the phone back to Danielle.

Danielle quickly typed in the word and shook her head. "That's not it." She tried a few more sports but they all failed. "Sports are no longer an option. I've gone through all of the ones I have seen Troy watch, and his phone just shut down on me. We have to wait five minutes until we can try again."

"Ok, if we keep guessing randomly, we might crash his phone, and we'll never figure it out."

Danielle groaned, exasperated. "You're right." She grabbed a pen out of her drawer and a Post-it. "I'll make a list of his favorite TV shows."

"Good idea."

After 10 minutes of the guessing game, Danielle was getting irritated. Nothing was working, and she was seconds away from breaking the phone.

"Danielle, why don't you take a break and let me try?" Gabriella suggested.

"It's all your's." Danielle said, tossing her the phone.

Gabriella stared at Troy's screensaver. It was a picture of him on a horse. It looked like he was on a ranch or something.

Aha! That's it. Gabriella started typing. H-O-U-S-T-O-N. Troy's phone unlocked.

Gabriella opened her mouth to tell Danielle, but she quickly stopped herself. She wanted to make sure the phone was clean before she handed it over.

Gabriella clicked Troy's 'Message' icon, and found her name. She clicked on it and saw a thread of text messages between her and Troy.

_Troy: Gabriella_

_Troy: Montez_

_Troy: algebra girl_

_Troy: Yo! Big boobs!_

Gabriella rolled her eyes. She always had a sneaky suspicion that Troy stared at her chest a lot.

_Troy: Dude, can you please stop ignoring me? It was just a kiss. And another kiss. And sex. You need to relax  
_

_Troy: I'm going to keep texting you until your phone crashes or until you reply_

_Troy: I'm very persistent_

_Troy:ok, whatever! I give up! If you want to stop talking to me, then fine! We don't need to talk! So ha!_

_Troy: Gabs, please disregard that last text. I apologize for my outburst._

_Troy: look, I'm going to fail physics w/o your help. If I fail, my mother is going to kill me_

_Troy: do you want to be responsible for my death? And me flunking a class? i don't think you do._

"So fucking dramatic." Gabriella muttered under her breath,

Danielle turned around, "Did you say something?"

Gabriella shook her head, "Nope."

"Did you unlock it?"

"No, I'm stumped. I was trying out a few of Troy's favorite foods."

"He loves steak." Danielle informed Gabrielle. "New York strip, or rib-eye. Well done. Smothered in grilled onions."

"Thanks for the detail. His password must be, 'New York strip steak, or rib-eye, well done and smothered in grilled onions."

Danielle stood up, and rolled her eyes. "I'm going to make some coffee. You want a cup?"

"Yes, please."

"I know how you like it. A ton of cream and sugar, right?"

"Yup."

Danielle walked out of her room and Gabriella turned her attention back to Troy's text messages. She scrolled down to the more recent texts.

_Troy: I can't thank you enough for what you did for me yesterday_

_Gabriella: I don't take off my clothes and pretend to be a hooker for just any of my friends ;)_

_Troy: I feel special_

_Gabriella: You should. And you can start repaying your debt to me by getting over to my house, asap!_

_Troy: am I the only one who feels the sexual tone in-between the lines?_

_Gabriella: yeah, you are. I'm talking about our bio homework_

_Troy: I'm with Danielle rite now!_

_Gabriella: I don't care_

_Troy: gotta go! I have a dentist appointment_

_Gabriella: you suck, Bolton!_

That was the last text message Gabriella sent. Now she was up to speed.

Gabriella deleted the entire thread of text messages and quickly locked Troy's phone again.

Danielle walked back into her room a few minutes later, two mugs of coffee in her hand. She handed one to Gabriella. "Did you get it?"

"No." Gabriella lied, taking a sip of the hot coffee. "Danielle, I don't think we are going to get it."

Danielle crawled onto her bed and sat next to Gabriella. "Don't be negative! We have to crack this."

"The only thing that will be doing any cracking is my brain under all of this pressure."

Danielle frowned, "You think this is useless?"

"Yeah." Gabriella answered. "I also think that Troy is innocent. We just spent all of time doing this for nothing."

"Alright." Danielle took a sip of her coffee and laughed. "Remember when I would slip my parent's Brandy into our coffee?"

"Oh yeah."

"We used to do a lot of drinking freshmen year. How did we not get caught?"

Gabriella shrugged, "We are horrible influences. I'm glad I don't have any younger siblings. The day I came back, I was hungover."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. The shades were a dead giveaway."

"You looked great. I never would have guessed."

Gabriella smiled. It was moments like this that she valued. When Danielle wasn't being an über bitch and they actually enjoyed being around each other. The moments were extremely rare, but they were nice.

Gabriella quickly shook the thought out of her head. Now was _not_ the time to do this.

"Sorry we couldn't find anything to incriminate Troy."

Danielle shot up and turned to Gabriella, "I think I know a way I can get him."

"How?"

"Troy obviously won't be thinking clearly, so maybe I can coax information out of him. He might slip up in his foggy haze."

Gabriella gave her a wary look, "I don't think that's a good idea."

Danielle jumped up and slipped on a pair of brown Uggs. She grabbed Troy's phone and dialed Lucille's phone number.

"Troy, why are you calling me? We are in the same house, and you are supposed to be resting."

"Lucille, it's Danielle."

"Danielle? Why do you have my son's phone?"

"He left it at my house. Is he home?"

"Yes, we got back not too long ago."

"Great, I'll come bring him his phone."

"Can you do that later? He just got his teeth pulled."

"I will see you soon, Lucille." Danielle said, ignoring her boyfriend's mother. "Bye now." She hung up.

"You're really going over there?"

"Yeah. You can show yourself out, right?"

"Yeah." Danielle put Troy's phone and her car keys in her pants' pocket.

"Alrighty then. I'll see you later."

Danielle bolted out of the door.

"Bye."

* * *

Lucille opened the door after the annoying doorbell kept ringing. She opened it to find Danielle standing impatiently in her doorway.

"Danielle, now is not the time to talk to Troy. He's sleeping."

"It's important." Danielle said, walking past Lucille and towards Troy's bedroom, which was downstairs. "He can sleep later." She opened the door and saw Troy laying on his bed. His mouth was swollen and his had an ice pack on his jaw. "Hey baby."

Troy looked up at Danielle and his eyes widened. He didn't see Danielle, he saw Gabriella. He rubbed his eyes, "What are you doing here?"

"I had to come and see you. And I had to give you your phone." Danielle replied.

"How did you get my phone? I was at Danielle's house."

Suddenly it all clicked for Danielle. Troy didn't know it was her! "She gave it to me."

"I really appreciate what you did for me for other day. I can't thank you enough. I mean, I was a bit confused when you started taking my shirt off, but I caught on, and it was fun. Did you have fun?"

Danielle nodded, resisting the urge to scream. "Yeah it was fun. Did we do anything else?"

Troy laughed. He poked Danielle's cheek. "Duh, you silly goose. I mean, it's not really something you can forget. At least I hope not."

"Troy don't you think that you should tell Danielle?" Danielle asked.

Troy covered Danielle's mouth, "Shh! We agreed that telling her would be a bad idea. She would be so pissed if she knew about us. You don't remember our talk?"

Danielle took Troy's hand off of her mouth, "Why don't you show me what we did."

Troy sat up, "I can't."

"Why not?"

"I can't feel my mouth."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Since I got all my wisdom teeth pulled at once, the doctor gave me some really strong, really awesome painkillers. Plus we promised we would never do it again. It was a one time thing."

Danielle sat down on Troy's bed, "Oh." Troy stared at her chest and laughed. "What's so funny?"

"Did your boobs shrink since yesterday?"

Aha! So Troy saw this mystery girl yesterday and she had big boobs. They were making progress. "Yeah. I'm not wearing my good push up bra."

"But I've seen them before, and you didn't have on a bra, and they are supposed to be-"

"Troy! Let's not talk about my chest anymore."

"Let's take a nap." Troy suggested, rolling over and closing his eyes. "I think a nap is good."

"Troy, we can take a nap later. Who do I look like right now? Who are you talking to?"

Troy let out a tired sigh, and playfully poked her nose. "I'm talking to you, silly. For someone with a 4.3 GPA, you are asking dumb questions. It's kind of cute when you play oblivious."

Danielle shook her head. She didn't have a 4.3. She had a nice 3.62. The girl Troy was hooking up with was a fucking straight A student.

Danielle cursed under her breath. That got her nowhere. But at least she knew something.

She got up from his bed and quickly left his room.

Once she got into her car, she dialed Gabriella's number.

"Hello?"

"The fucking ass is cheating on me!" Danielle yelled into the phone.

"What?"

"He basically admitted he cheated on me."

"Danielle, stop. Breathe. Relax."

Danielle shook her head, vigorously. "I can't relax. I need a Valium. Do you think Taylor's mom can prescribe me some if I fake an anxiety attack. She's a psychiatrist, right?"

_If anyone needs a Valium, it's me._ "Yes, but pills aren't going to help."

"They will." Danielle insisted.

"Start from the beginning. Did he say who the girl was?"

"No. Here's the thing: he thought I was the girl he was sleeping with. He kept saying they had fun, and it was unforgettable. He never said the girl's name, though. Even on heavy pain pills, he's still smart. And apparently so is the girl."

"What do you mean?"

"She has a 4.3 GPA." Danielle said. "And apparently her breasts are bigger than mine."

"I'm sorry."

"You should have heard the way he was talking. It was so cute and playful. There was also a compassion. Something...sweet. I wanted to choke the life out of him."

"He's not thinking clearly. He can fall on his ass, and probably laugh it off. Don't take his tone too seriously."

"You weren't there! You don't know." Danielle snapped. She sighed. "Sorry."

"It's alright."

Danielle fumbled for her keys. Her hands were shaking, she was so angry. "When I find this girl, she is going to fucking wish she never even looked in Troy's fucking direction. I will destroy her."

"Are you going to confront him?"

"Not yet. The information is still too vague. I need to know who the girl is. Do you think that whore goes to West High?"

"I don't know."

"Help me. You and Troy talk a lot right?"

"Yes."

"Has he ever said anything about another girl?"

"No. Dani, I told you guys don't willingly admit their infidelity."

"Alright. I'll call you later."

"Bye."

Danielle hung up. She hit her steering wheel in anger. She scrolled through her contacts until she found Cole's number. She quickly typed a text message.

_Danielle: I'll be at your place in 10 minutes._

* * *

The next day, Gabriella went over to Troy's house. Her plan was to chew him out for being so fucking stupid and slipping up.

"Gabriella, I have no idea what happened last night after I came home." Troy grabbed his ice pack and held it on his mouth. "Do you know how many pills I took? I'm shocked I didn't OD. Plus my anesthesia didn't fully wear off yet."

"Well what do you know?"

"My mouth hurts like a bitch."

"I should punch you."

"I'll probably cry."

"You left your phone at Danielle's house."

Troy pointed to his nightstand, "My phone is right here."

"Danielle brought it over here. She knows."

"Knows what?"

"That you have been less than faithful. Yesterday I went through your phone and I deleted the very incriminating text messages you sent to me."

"Did she see them?"

"No. Thank God, but she came over here and you were hallucinating."

Troy chuckled, "Hallucinating?"

"You thought she was me. And you might have let it slip that we had sex."

All of the color drained from Troy's face. "Does she know it's you?"

Gabriella shook her head, "No. You need to fix this."

"Me?"

"Yes, you! None of this would be happening if you just shut up."

"No. None of this would be happening if we didn't sleep together. I wouldn't have to filter my thoughts and words."

"Whose fault is that?"

"Are you blaming me, Montez?"

"Well, you did show up at my house."

Gabriella pointed out. "You kissed me."

"You let me in! You could've said no."

"Before I could even protest, your mouth was on mine."

"You made no protest at all. You're just as guilty as me, cupcake, so don't start feeling guilty. We can go in circles and we can blame each other all day, but we're equally guilty."

"I'm not the one who told Danielle. This is your mess. Up until yesterday, Danielle was blissfully ignorant."

Troy sighed, "What do you want me to do?"

Gabriella put her head in her hands. "I have no idea."

"Well, she doesn't know it's you. And I'm pretty sure I can figure out some type of lie."

"It better be believable."

"I'm a pretty good liar."

"Prove it." Gabriella ordered. "Lie to me."

"Lie to you?"

Gabriella nodded, "Yes. Lie to my face."

"I'm afraid of the dark." Troy lied. "I hate basketball. My mother is a compulsive hoarder. I got arrested last year. I think you're ugly. You're flat-chested, I have 6 toes on my-

"Stop. I get it. You can lie to my face, without batting an eyelash."

"I'm good."

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "And stop staring at my boobs, you perv." She started walking towards the door.

"Ok."

When Gabriella reached the door, she turned around. "That doesn't give you permission to focus your attention to my ass."

"It's a free country, and I don't need your permission."

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "I'll punch you."

Troy winced at the thought of anything besides ice coming in contact with his mouth. "Fine, I won't stare at your ass."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

* * *

"Gabriella, you have spent the last two days freaking out over Troy and Danielle." Lola said, grabbing a spoon out of the kitchen drawer. "And you talk about me being stressed out. 5 page papers and all night study sessions don't even compare to the soap opera that is your reality." She dug her spoon into her sister's pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

"Tell me about it."

"I think you should just stay out of it. Let them self-destruct."

"I can't."

"For someone who has been oh so in love-or lust-with Troy Bolton, you have made no effort to get him. You have been friend-zoned."

"I don't want to ruin the relationship. If it's meant to be, then it will be. If they are going to break up, they'll break up."

"Why are you so nice? I get that I'm a nice person, but shit, you are way too nice."

"I am." Gabriella agreed. "I don't know why. 99% of the time, I really hate Danielle, but there is that 1% where I realize why we were friends for 8 years."

"Maybe under the block of ice that was sucked into the black hole in her chest, she has a piece of a soul. But I know how this ends, and you won't have a happy ending because you have gotten way too involved. On both sides of the fence. The double agent always gets burned."

"Like?"

"Remember Mean Girls?"

"It's one of my favorite movies."

"Didn't everyone hate Cady at one point in the movie?"

"Yes, but..."

"I proved my point. Lola-1, Gabriella-0."

"I'll be fine."

"I just don't want you to get hurt. You're a good person."

"Lola, stop preparing for the worst."

"I can't help it. Just promise me that the next time Danielle wants you to do something, you won't help her."

"I promise."

Lola smiled, "Good. I will sleep better at night knowing that."

"You are a drama queen."

"I'm serious. Your life stresses me out. That is not normal."

"Stop stressing."

"Like I said before, I can't help it. I'm prone to anxiety, just like you are."

"Don't worry about me. I have this under control."

Lola sighed, reluctantly, "Ok. I'll leave it alone."

"And can we talk about something else, please? Anything else on earth, I am willing to talk about."

Lola looked at her watch. "You want to go bowling? I can call Marcus, you can call Tay."

Gabriella smiled, "Yeah. I can kick your ass in bowling."

Lola grabbed her car keys off of the kitchen counter. "Last time we went bowling, I won. I bowled a 241."

"Talk to me when you beat my high score of 269."

The two sisters started walking towards the front door. Lola rolled her eyes, "You bowled that last year. Until you can keep a consistent high score, shut up."

"Don't tell me to shut up. You shut up!"

"That's the best you got?"

"I'll have a better comeback after I beat you."

Lola nudged her sister, "Don't bet on it."


	9. Two Truths and A Lie is Uncovered

AN: Ok, so I am extremely excited about this chapter, and the next chapter, and possibly the one after that. You wanna know why? Well just read it. We're moving closer to the moment EVERYONE has wanted. (I'm not even exaggerating when I say this. I pinky promise). Enjoy!

* * *

Things were getting awkward. Like, extremely awkward. Now that Danielle knew that Troy had cheated, everyone was walking on pins and needles about the subject.

Thankfully, Danielle had kept her word and she wasn't going to bring it up unless she had solid proof of Troy's supposed infidelity. She wanted to make sure she didn't look ridiculous when she confronted Troy and the girl he was with.

"Danielle, are you alright?" Troy asked, snapping his girlfriend out of her thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Are you alright?" Troy repeated. "You seem out of it."

"I'm fine." Danielle lied. "I was just thinking about us."

"Oh? What about us?"

"We don't spend enough time together."

"What are you talking about? We see each other all the time."

"Yeah, but it's never any one on one quality time. You're always spending time with Chad, or your parents, or Gabriella."

"Sorry."

"Speaking if Gabriella, how's tutoring?"

Troy shrugged, "Nothing special. She teaching me physics."

"How's your grade?"

"I have an A."

Danielle nodded, "That's good."

"What's with the sudden interest in my study habits?" Troy asked. "You've never seemed interested in my grades."

"There is a first time for everything, right?"

Troy shrugged, "I guess. It just seems a little out of character for you."

"Well I'm interested now."

Troy nodded, and sat back against his bed, "Good for you, baby."

"My mom says that I should get a tutor." Danielle said. "I was thinking someone with a 4.0, or better. Do you know anybody?"

"Well, you can ask Taylor, Gabriella, I think Zeke has a 4.0, and everyone in the chemistry club has like, a 5.0."

Danielle sighed. That got her nowhere. Troy wasn't sleeping with any of those people.

Gabriella was right. Troy wasn't going to slip up any time soon. Troy was smarter than she gave him credit for. Much smarter.

"Yeah, I'll consider one of them."

"Have Gabriella do it. She's your best friend and she's smart. The people from the chem club are extremely condescending."

Danielle nodded, "Good idea."

"We're going to put the finishing touches on our project tonight since we go back to school tomorrow. I'll put in a good word for you."

"Thanks baby." Danielle smiled. Maybe she was overreacting the other day. Maybe Troy didn't cheat on her, and she was a bit too eager to jump to conclusions.

But she wasn't going to be too optimistic.

* * *

"I feel like every time you come over to my house, we order in." Troy observed, holding the pizza box in his hand. He sat it down on the coffee table. "You're expensive, algebra girl."

"Well it's not like I'm going to be doing any cooking." Gabriella said. "I'd probably kill us."

"No one is that bad at cooking."

"I'll cook for you one day. If you survive, then I'll cook more often."

"Hot Pockets. Can you make those?"

"No."

"You put them in the microwave for two minutes. How can anyone be bad at making on of those?"

"I burned it, and my aunt's microwave almost caught on fire."

"Is that even possible?" Troy asked, laughing. "Setting a microwave on fire?"

"It is because it almost happened. Trust me."

"In that case, I really don't want you to cook for me."

"But I make really good cereal." Gabriella added.

"Everyone makes really good cereal, Gabriella."

"No." Gabriella argued. "Some people put too much milk in it, or too much cereal. I make it perfectly."

Troy picked his AP biology up and sat it in his lap. "Now, what do we need to do for our bio project?"

"Well, considering I did most of the work, you can type up our conclusion."

Troy groaned, "I don't want to type it."

"You should have helped me with the actual project."

"I didn't want to grow mold. That's gross."

"Well now you get to spend the night making charts, and writing about temperatures, and different types of bread, and storage locations. Have fun."

"Can you help me?" Troy asked, grabbing Gabriella's hand. "Please?"

"No."

"Please. I'm horrible at writing."

Gabriella scoffed, "You have an A+ in English. Think of another lie."

"I have carpal tunnel?"

Gabriella shook her head, "Nope. Try again."

"I really just don't want to do it."

Gabriella smiled, "Honesty. Now was that so hard?"

"No. So will you help me?"

"No."

Troy frowned, "You're a cold one."

"Yeah, I am."

"I just got a chill."

"This is due first period tomorrow. It's not like we can work on it at lunch or during free period. So you better work your ass off tonight."

"I will, I will." Troy assured. "But right now, I don't want to think about it."

"Well what do you want to do?"

Troy shrugged, "I don't know. What do you want to do?"

"I came here to study, but you always seem to have something different in mind, Bolton."

"Because it's so boring."

"It's not supposed to be entertaining."

"Let's play a game."

"A game?"

Troy nodded, "Yes, a game. Have you ever played one? Or do you spend all of your time studying?"

"What kind of game? A board game?"

"Two truths and a lie."

"I haven't played that since middle school."

"You're going to play today." Troy demanded, his tone light and playful.

"Oh am I now?"

Troy nodded, "Yes. You want to start or should I?"

"You start."

"Alright." Troy pauses for a moment. "My favorite color is red, I talk in my sleep, and I play tennis."

"That's easy. You don't play tennis."

"How'd you know?"

"You fell asleep in math, and you were talking."

"What was I saying?"

"Nothing important. Something about your locker combination, a dog, and a food."

"What?"

"I'm so serious. I was going to take a picture of you, but you woke up."

"Good. Your turn."

"Ok, ok. I love Chinese food, I'm allergic to pineapples, and I have a tattoo. Which one is the lie?"

"That you have a tattoo." Troy answered, sure of his answer.

"Nope."

Troy shifted to get into a more comfortable position. "What?"

"I'm not allergic to pineapples. But I am allergic to mushrooms."

"You don't have a tattoo."

"Yes, I do."

"I've seen you naked before. I would have noticed a tattoo."

"Well it isn't noticeable."

"Where is it?"

Gabriella pulled a hair tie off of her wrist and tied her hair into a bun. She pulled her ear down, and Troy noticed a tiny butterfly on top of a flower. "Can you see it?"

Troy nodded, "Yeah. Why a butterfly and a flower though?"

"Butterflies represent change. And I've done a lot of changing. The lotus flower is a gorgeous flower that blooms despite it's less than lovely environment. It represents strength. Two symbols I feel represent me."

"Wow. Way to get all deep and profound on me."

Gabriella playfully stuck out her tongue. "You asked."

"They're nice. I like 'em."

"Thank you."

"They fit you algebra girl. How did it take for the parentals to agree?"

"Forever. Lots and lots of begging and pleading."

"Did they hurt?"

Gabriella groaned, "Ugh it hurt like a bitch."

"You're just a big baby."

"I'm not a big baby!"

"Yes you are."

Gabriella grabbed a black Sharpie and uncapped it. "Call me a big baby one more time, Bolton." She warned.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll write on you."

"You're. A. Big. Baby."

Gabriella lunged forward, swinging the marker around, trying to get it to connect with Troy's skin, but he was quick. He was dodging her moves with ease.

Gabriella, not willing to lose, tackled Troy, knocking him over sending them flying back onto the carpeted floor.

"And I'm a lot more clever than you." Gabriella boasted, lifting Troy's shirt up, and quickly scribbling _G. M. ;) _above his pelvic bone.

"Oh really?"

"Yes, really."

Without warning, Troy flipped over and he was suddenly on top of Gabriella. He grabbed the marker out of Gabriella's hand, and smirked. "Nope. I'm just as clever."

Gabriella looked up at Troy's mischievous eyes and laughed. "You're good."

Troy looked down and smiled, "I know."

Before either one of them had time to process what was going on and react, they were once again in a heated lip lock. Tongues fighting, teeth clashing, hands trying to find something, anything to grab on to.

They both knew better. They both were old enough to know right from wrong. To make conscious, clear minded decisions. Yet here they were. Dancing the same dance as if it were a month ago.

It wasn't the guilt, or the will power, or the fact that they knew what they were doing was wrong that made them pull away. No, it was Gabriella's cell phone. The obnoxiously loud ring tone sent them spiraling back into reality.

Gabriella untangled her hands from Troy's hair and she pushed him off of her.

She sat up as she saw who was calling her. Danielle. It was like the universe was sending her a sign or something. Telling her what she was doing was wrong. Way to rub it in her face.

"Hey Danielle." Gabriella greeted. "Wait what? Slow down, Dan...oh no...oh my gosh...of course...I'm on my way, I'll see you soon."

She hung up and turned to Troy. "We need to go."

"Go where?"

"The hospital. Danielle's dad had a heart attack."

* * *

Troy and Gabriella made it to the hospital in record time. They stopped at the receptionist desk and a young nurse looked up at them. "Hi."

"Can you tell me where Robert Asher is?" Troy asked.

"Dr. Asher is being treated right now."

"Can you at least tell me where his family is?" Gabriella asked, tapping her feet impatiently.

"Gabriella!" A voice called. Gabriella turned around and saw her father walking towards her.

"Dad." Gabriella ran towards her dad and wrapped her arms around him. She pulled away. "How's Mr. Asher?"

"Mom is prepping him for surgery as we speak."

"What happened?" Gabriella asked.

"Well he has cardiac dysrhythmia. And because of that, it is very likely that you can have a heart attack."

Gabriella wrung her hands together, "Is he going to be alright?"

"We don't know yet, but he's very lucky that he came in as quickly as he did."

"Where's Danielle?" Troy asked.

Greg led them down the hall and into the private waiting area, separated from the rest of the lobby. Danielle, Alexis, Danielle's older sister, Vanessa, and various other family members were scattered about.

Danielle looked up and saw her boyfriend walking towards her. When he reached her, he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her into a tight hug. She wrapped her arms around her neck. "How did you know?"

"Gabriella was with me when you called." Troy answered, rubbing his hands up and down Danielle's back. "I'm so sorry."

Danielle pulled away and wiped the tears from her eyes, "He's in surgery right now. Gabriella's mom is the surgeon."

"I heard she's pretty amazing at her job."

Gabriella walked over to Danielle. "She's best in the southwest."

"Thank you for coming."

"Of course I'd be here."

"I mean, your mom is a pretty amazing surgeon right? He'll be ok, won't he?"

Gabriella looked at Danielle's face. She looked like a sad puppy. In the 10 years she had known Danielle, she had never seen her so upset. It made her heart break.

Gabriella forced a smile, "Of course. Your dad is stubborn, and my mom is good at her job. He'll get through surgery just fine."

Danielle nodded, wiping her eyes again. Her mascara and eyeliner was smudged, her eyes were bloodshot. Overall, she looked horrible. "I hope so. He's my dad. He has to be ok."

Gabriella put her hand on Danielle's shoulder. "I can go get you and Alexis some coffee. Real coffee from Starbucks. Not this crappy hospital stuff."

Danielle shook her head, "No. You don't have to do that."

"No. I want to."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'll be right back."

Gabriella walked away from the waiting area and took a deep breath. She was trying to get out of there as fast as she could. She couldn't stand to look at Danielle's crying face any longer. Her heart was pounding, her mind was cloudy, and she just felt bad.

Yeah, Danielle was mean, and vain, and selfish, but after seeing her break down like that, Gabriella felt like shit. Complete and utter shit. While Danielle definitely wasn't the nicest human, she was just that...human. She had feeling and emotions, too. She couldn't see Danielle as the sociopathic bitch anymore.

Gabriella thought about her and Troy. They slept with each other behind Danielle's back. And if she didn't call they would've-. She stopped herself. For the first time, she considered Danielle, and she felt a wave of guilt come over her. Things were getting messy and it was all becoming way too much for her to handle. She had to end this before it became too much to control. And she had to do it quick.

* * *

A few days had passed and Danielle had been staying at Troy's house. Her dad was still in the hospital and her mother had spent every single moment at his side. Danielle decided it would be better to stay at a house full of people than stay in an empty one.

She looked at the alarm clock on Troy's nightstand. It read 1:17 A.M. in bright green letters. Ugh, it was obvious she wasn't going to any sleep.

She heard Troy's phone softly vibrating next to her. Who could be calling so late? Whoever it was could wait until a decent hour to call.

Some moments later, the phone beeped beside her, and she looked down. One new voice mail.

Danielle looked at the phone. Troy _did_ take his password off of his phone, and Danielle was a teensy bit interested to see who was calling her boyfriend in the wee hours of the morning.

Danielle picked up the phone and clicked the voice mail icon. She pressed the phone to her ear.

_'Hey it's me. I know I'm calling at a bad time, but I can't wait another second. This has really been weighing on me. Ever since I came back to Albuquerque you have definitely become one of my best friends. But we can't do this anymore. This whole pretending that there isn't something between us. The tip-toeing around the tension. We've been doing this for over a month and it's getting to be exhausting. I mean, I bought Danielle and her mother coffee after I almost hooked up with her boyfriend again. And I can't do that. After seeing Danielle the other day, I realized I can't do this anymore. Her dad is in the hospital, and she really doesn't need us hurting her too. For the sake of your relationship, well everyone's relationship really, it's best that we just don't talk for a while. You can focus on being a good boyfriend, and I can focus on being a good friend. It's best if we just put a bit of distance between us. You can find a new tutor and lab partner. That will make this much easier. Well, I think I've said everything I can say. You have a good night and I guess I'll see you at school. Bye.'_

Danielle hung up the phone and sat it back down. Her mind was reeling. She shook her head. That didn't just happen. She didn't just find out that her best friend and her boyfriend were sleeping together behind her back via voice mail. No.

She turned to Troy. He was sleeping soundly next to her. His arm was covering his face and he was lightly snoring. He looked so innocent. It disgusted her.

His shirt was slightly lifted, exposing part of his stomach. Danielle could see some sort of letters written on him. She couldn't make it out at first, so she lifted his shirt up a bit and saw the writing. _G. M. ;) _It looked like Troy had tried to scrub it off. It was slightly faded, but it was still there, staring Danielle in the face.

"Gabriella Montez." She said, quietly, putting the puzzle pieces together.

Danielle quietly crept out of Troy's bed, put on her Uggs, and old East High sweatshirt, and walked out of Troy's room. She couldn't be near him at the moment. Not without wanting to take a pillow and smothering him in his sleep.

Her vision was blurry and clouded as she left the house. All she could see was red, a blind rage. She was furious, livid, down right pissed.

When she made it to her car, she let out a scream. Someone in the neighborhood would surely call the police with a noise complaint, but she didn't care. She didn't care about anything at the moment.

Gabriella? He was sleeping with Gabriella? Of all the people in the world, Gabriella was the one he picked. Her supposed best friend. Gabriella had been making her look like a complete and utter idiot. Lying to her face, and going behind her back at the same fucking time. She trusted her, confided in her, and all this time, she had been the girl. She also underestimated her. Never in a million years did Danielle think _Gabriella _would do something like this. Like she said, she brought Danielle coffee, hugged her, and spent the night in the hospital with her like a real friend would, after she was screwing around with her fucking boyfriend. Who does that?

Suddenly, things were becoming clear. Why Troy was being so distant. Why he and Gabriella were getting closer. Why Gabriella was so damn insistent that Troy wasn't cheating on her. _She _was the girl Troy was talking about. Smart, pretty, big boobs.

Danielle didn't know what was stopping her from going over to Gabriella's house and punching her in the face. Or writing _'whore' _on the side of her car. Or egging her house. Or all of the above.

Danielle shook her head. No, that'd be too easy. Danielle didn't want to do this in private. She didn't _do_ things in private. No. She wanted everyone to see what type of person Gabriella really is. Danielle was going to make Gabriella Montez wish she never came back to Albuquerque.


	10. All Is Revealed

AN: So as I stated in the previous chapter, I'm freaking excited for this chapter, it's not even funny. I've been planning it ever since I came up with the concept of this story and it's finally here! *squeal* At first, I thought Gabriella and Danielle could fight, but then I decided no. These two have too much history and way too many unspoken words to just fist fight. It wouldn't be as intense, or suspenseful, or dramatic. And then I'd be pissed at myself. So I'm rambling now (blame my stream of consciousness ways) and without further ado, here's the chapter. :)

* * *

The cafeteria was bustling about. People were getting food, everyone was talking, people were trying to do homework that was due 5th period, a few teachers were scattered about. All in all, the cafeteria was loud and busy, as usual.

Gabriella looked up and saw Danielle walking towards her. Her hair was tied back, she dressed in Victoria's Secret PINK sweats, and she had huge sunglasses on. Gabriella had never seen her look so casual at school.

"Hey." Gabriella greeted as Danielle stopped in front of her. Danielle grabbed the cup of coffee Gabriella was holding out of her hands. "Sure take some."

"Thanks." Danielle forcefully threw the cup across the cafeteria. The lid came off and the contents of the cup spilled onto the floor. Everyone looked up and turned to Danielle, confused at her sudden burst of anger.

"What the hell is your problem?" Gabriella asked, standing up. She had been craving that cup of coffee all day.

"You really want to know what my problem is, Gabriella?"

"Yeah. It wasn't a rhetorical question."

"My problem is that you're sleeping with the boyfriend!" Danielle answered, her voice slightly elevated. Her eyes narrowed at Troy. "Yeah, you."

That definitely caught everyone's attention. Teachers, students, TAs, lunch ladies, janitors, everyone was looking at the two.

Gabriella's eyes widened. How the hell did Danielle find out? Did Troy tell her?

"What's the matter, Gabriella?" Danielle asked, her voice sarcastic and mocking. "Cat got your tongue? You and Troy did so well lying to me. Sneaking behind my back. But as you guys know, what's done in the dark, must come to the light. I mean, leaving a voice mail on Troy's phone. Come on. That is such an amateur move."

Troy's eyebrow raised, "Voice mail?"

"Oh, Gabriella called you last night." Danielle explained. "She was going on and on about how she was guilty, and she didn't want to 'hurt' me, and that you two shouldn't really talk anymore. Well it's too late for that, Gabriella. Don't you think?"

Troy stood up. He grabbed Danielle's wrist. "Danielle, let's talk about this somewhere else. Somewhere privately."

Danielle snatched her wrist out of Troy's grasp. "No, Troy. Don't you think you've done enough in private? I mean, some things should be done in public, right? I think the school deserves to know the truth about two of the most popular people in school. East High's golden boy, Troy Bolton, isn't so golden. And the perfect princess, Gabriella Montez, is nothing but a lying whore. I mean you even had the perfect excuse. Tutoring. Just how much tutoring was getting done, guys?"

"Danielle-" Gabriella started, but Danielle cut her off.

"Shut up!" Danielle said, sharply. She laughed. "Gabriella Marie Montez. How could you? We spent the night at each other's house. We took baths together. And you sleep with my boyfriend. I mean, you move to L.A., lose a few pounds, and suddenly you're a super slut."

Gabriella bit her lip to keep from talking. She'd let Danielle get this anger out.

"Are you done?" Gabriella asked.

"Am I done?" Danielle repeated. "Am I done? No, I'm not done! God, you watched me freak out over the possibility of my boyfriend cheating on me, when in reality, you were the one he was sleeping with. You were playing both sides of the fucking fence. You are nothing but a trashy whore!"

Gabriella held her hand up, "That's enough!"

Danielle shook her head, "No it isn't enough. I can call you every name in the book and it still wouldn't be enough."

"I can say the same for you." Gabriella said.

"Oh really?"

"Yes, really."

Chad, who was sitting next to Gabriella, touched her arm, "Gabs, you shouldn't be doing this here. Everyone is watching."

Gabriella shoved Chad off of her. "No. Isn't that what you want, Danielle? For everyone to be watching?"

"Yes, I want everyone to see your true colors."

"No, you want attention." Gabriella argued. "Because you are extremely narcissistic. You want everyone to feel bad for you. You want to be the victim. You want to point the finger at me, and make me look like the bad guy, but in reality, it's you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. You."

"I'm not the one who was sleeping with someone else's boyfriend!"

"You don't want to go there, Danielle." Gabriella warned.

"Oh no, Gabriella. I do." Danielle challenged. "I want to go there."

Gabriella nodded, "Fine. Everyone, listen up! Troy and I had sex. And if Danielle wouldn't have called me the other day to say her father was in the hospital, I'm pretty positive we would have slept together again. I am such a bitch. I'm a horrible human being but so is Ms. Danielle Asher."

"Gabriella, what are you talking about?" Danielle questioned.

"No one else knows the truth about you, except for me."

"And what's the truth about me, Gabriella?"

Gabriella walked over to a table of football players. "You guys remember when I got that really bad concussion at Danielle's Labor Day party? Someone hit me with that basketball?" The guys nodded. She turned around so that she was facing most of the people in the cafeteria. "Did you guys know that Danielle was the one that hit me?"

Troy's eyes widened. He turned to Danielle. "Is that true?"

"Oh it's true, alright." Gabriella replied. "Marcus saw her. My own 'best friend' put me in the hospital because she was jealous of me. Why? Because I wasn't the fat girl anymore. Because she wasn't the only girl who looked good in a bikini. Those are reasons, but the main reason was because I was playing a game of basketball with Troy. Completely harmless."

"It wasn't harmless. You were having sex with Troy."

Gabriella shook her head, "No. You put me in the hospital on the 1st of September. Troy and I didn't sleep together until October 19th. You put me in the hospital and then you lied to fucking my face. But that isn't the only thing you've done. You've also been sleeping with Cole." She made sure to yell that last sentence.

"You guys all know Cole right?" Gabriella questioned, looking around. "Smart, good looking, star baseball player. Yeah, he and Danielle have been sleeping together. Did you know that Troy?" She turned to Cole's girlfriend, Sabrina who looked like she wanted to crawl into a whole and die. "Did you know that Sabrina? Your boyfriend has been having a consistent, on-going affair with someone else's girlfriend!"

Sabrina turned to Cole, "No, I didn't."

Gabriella shrugged and turned to Danielle, "Oops! So while Danielle has been screaming at me and calling me a whore, she's neglected to mention that she's doing the same thing I did. What a hypocrite, right?"

"You are such a bad friend." Danielle said.

That comment made Gabriella even angrier than she already was. "Danielle, we haven't been friends since freshman year of high school. I mean, let's not forget the reason we're doing this. Troy Bolton!"

"What about Troy?"

"Why him? I want a real answer from you. Why Troy? Why the one guy I was head over heels for since fucking middle school? Was it honestly because you liked him?" Gabriella shook her head. "No, it was because you could get him. You always had to one-up me. I liked Troy Bolton, so you had to date him. And then you tell me to get over it!"

"Are we still doing this?" Danielle asked, exasperated. "We've been dating for over 17 months and you still are hung up over it?"

"Yes, I am."

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again. He chose me. Get over it."

"You weren't enough to keep him away from me. You weren't enough to keep him from kissing me, and then coming over to my house! You weren't enough for him to want to be honest with you, Danielle. You weren't enough and you still aren't enough for him to want to stop talking to me, hanging out with me, being with me. I'm the one who said Troy and I needed to stop, not him!"

Danielle frowned, sympathetically. "God, you've come in second place to me so many times, you've gotten used to it. He didn't break up with me."

"He didn't break up with me either, sweetie!" Gabriella shot back. "You said out of you mouth that Troy is distant from you. Why? Because he's close to me. You just don't want to accept the fact that you are jealous because you know that there is something between me and Troy. So really ask yourself who came in second place. You said Troy would never want to be with someone like me, remember? You started dating him to hurt me, so if anyone was the bad friend, it was you."

Danielle scoffed, "Please. You loved being my friend. You wouldn't be who you are if it weren't for me."

"You're right. I would probably be a lot happier if I didn't know you."

"Oh?"

"Yes. You degraded and belittled me for almost 9 years. Making fun of my weight, making fun of my glasses, giggling with the other girls behind my back. Because of you, I have hated myself for years. Joining gyms, crash dieting, binge eating, not eating at all, fasting, binge eating again, compulsively exercising, gaining weight, losing weight, gaining more weight, losing more weight. It was an extremely vicious, and exhausting cycle." Gabriella could feel herself crumbling. This is exactly what she didn't want to happen. She didn't know anyone to see her weak and vulnerable, but she was too far gone. Danielle had pushed her over the edge. There was no turning back now. "I had to leave the fucking state because of you, and I probably would have never looked back if I had a choice. So don't stand there and act as if you're God and you made me, when in reality, you have done nothing but destroy me, physically, mentally, and emotionally. If anyone is trash, it's you. You are a horrible person and you deserve every bad thing that will ever happen to you."

Danielle's nostrils flared. "Get out of my face!" She forcefully shoved Gabriella backwards.

Gabriella caught herself on the edge of a table. She turned around and back-handed Danielle, sending her reeling.

It seemed like everyone in the cafeteria gasped simultaneously. A day ago these two were best friends, inseparable, and now they're hitting each other and calling each other every name in the book? When did the shift happen?

"These bitches are crazy!" A freshman said, her eyes not tearing off of the girls.

Her boyfriend nodded, "Yeah. My money's on Gabriella if those two get into a fist fight."

"Please! Danielle is meaner, more vicious."

"It seems like Gabriella's hits are angrier and hold a lot more behind them. She'd do damage."

Danielle charged at Gabriella, but Troy grabbed her arms, keeping her still.

"Kiss my ass, Danielle!"

"I'd rather kick it!"

"And I'd like to see you try." Gabriella challenged, moving closer to Danielle. Before she was within grabbing distance, Chad grabbed her waist. He picked her up and started walking towards the cafeteria doors.

Chad sighed, "Ok, we're going to go."

"Go to Hell, Gabriella!" Danielle screamed.

"Every day I know you, I'm already there!" Gabriella screamed back, as Chad carried her out of silent, awe-struck cafeteria.

"Chad let me go!" Gabriella yelled, kicking her feet against her friend.

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"No!" Gabriella punched Chad's chest. "No!"

"No." Chad repeated, his voice more firm than before. He moved his head to dodge one of Gabriella's hits.

Gabriella hit him again, this time more forceful. Chad grabbed her hands and tried to restrain her, but she was still able to strike him.

Chad forced Gabriella down to the floor and his legs on both sides of her so she couldn't escape.

"Let go of me!" Gabriella demanded, struggling against Chad's strong grip on her hands.

"Why? So you can go in there and kick Danielle's ass?"

"I don't want to kick her ass!" Gabriella replied, writhing, hoping to break free. "I just want to hit her again."

Chad shook his head, "If you go in there and hit her with one-sixteenth of what you just hit me with, then I won't let you go back in there. I can see it now. You will kick her ass, and you will get arrested because Danielle's parents will press charges for assault because you will not stop until someone pulls you off of her."

"I don't care." Gabriella said through gritted teeth.

"You do care." Chad argued.

"I don't!" Gabriella insisted, her voice breaking. "Danielle can't do anymore to me than she already has, and I certainly can't hurt myself anymore than I already have concerning Danielle. I feel like I've destroyed myself enough to the point where nothing else can get to me."

Chad was taken aback by the honesty in Gabriella's voice. This girl _really_ didn't care.

"Well, I care if you don't care. And I'm not going to let you go in there and do something stupid." Gabriella tried to get out of Chad's grip again. "Stop it!"

A teacher walked by and stopped when he saw the two. "Um, guys? What's going on here?"

"Chad, if you don't get off of me, I'll press harassment charges." Gabriella threatened.

"Nothing to worry about, Mr. Pitts." Chad assured. "I'm just doing damage control."

Mr. Pitts nodded, "Alright." He walked off.

After a few more minutes of sitting in silence, Chad noticed Gabriella finally started to calm down. Her breathing slowed, and she stopped struggling. He loosened his grip on her.

"I'm fine."

"No you aren't. You're angry."

"Yeah, I am, but if you don't let me go, my anger will be directed towards you."

Chad sighed, and got off of Gabriella. He gave her his hand and pulled her up. He looked at her. She was doing a good job of holding her composure, but Chad knew better. He could see it in her eyes. She looked upset, angry, hurt, and absolutely exhausted.

He wanted to say something. He wanted to tell her that she would be fine, give her some type of consoling, but he was at a lost for words. Instead, he pulled her into a hug. He ewe shocked that she let him and didn't try to punch him again.

Once Chad did that, Gabriella let out a gut wrenching sob. Chad ran his hand up and down Gabriella's back, trying to calm her down.

Chad gripped Gabriella tighter. He knew a hug wouldn't fix anything, but it was all he had to offer. Whatever strand Danielle and Gabriella's "friendship" was hanging on had snapped and those two were done. Troy and Gabriella? He had no words for that either. That was a problem for another day. "You can't go back in there. I'm going to take you home."

Gabriella shook her head, "My stuff is in there."

"Taylor can get it for you and bring it back to your house. You're crazy to think I'm going to let you go in there."

"My car?" Gabriella said, her voice shaky and uneven.

"Taylor can get it for you, too." Chad pulled away and wrapped his arms around Gabriella, keeping her steady on her feet. "Right now, we're going to your house."

* * *

Gabriella felt like her body was full of lead. She just felt heavy, and sluggish as she walked into her room. On her way up, she saw the light on in her mother's home office, and she saw both her mom and dad's cars in the driveway. Good. She wanted to be alone in a house with people, rather than be alone, alone. That would just make her shitty day even shittier.

When she made it to her room, she sat down on the edge of her bed. Removing any articles of clothing, or pulling the covers back required too much energy. Energy she didn't have. Her body was aching, she head was pounding, and she was dizzy. She was shocked that she hadn't collapsed.

What the hell happened earlier? One day ago, her life was fine. She was fine. How did she lose control like that? If there was one thing Gabriella had developed over the past year, it was self-control. Choosing wisely, and not reacting. But somewhere in the middle of the fight, it was gone. Gabriella couldn't control what she said, what she did.

Danielle always knew how to pull out the deep feelings and emotions Gabriella shoved down and toy with them. She never wanted to feel insecure, inferior, or second best again. She never wanted to think about her weight issues again but somehow that demon found a way to rear it's ugly head, too.

_"Man, it always makes me sad when two friends can't work it out. Such a sad shame."_

Gabriella's head snapped up. What the hell? Who was talking?

_"I'm over here."_ The voice called.

Gabriella turned to her floor length mirror and gasped. She didn't look like herself anymore. She looked like she did two years ago. Thick glasses, fat, mousy brown hair, frumpy clothes.

"What the fuck?" Gabriella whispered.

_"God, you look horrible. No, I look horrible."_

"Who are you?"

_"I'm you, genius. Don't remember me?"_

Gabriella rubbed her eyes, "You aren't real."

_"I am real. I'm your conscience. And I must say, I think you are pathetic."_

"Excuse me?"

_"I barely recognize you now. Danielle was right, you lose a few pounds and the rest is history."_

"Why am I seeing you?"

_"I don't know. You must be projecting your inner voice onto the mirror, or something deep and psychological like that. It doesn't matter how I got here. I am here. And let me tell you, were so much better off fat. At least you had morals."_

"I do have morals."

_"Really? Did they leave once you set eyes on Troy or once you two were naked?"_

"Don't bring Troy into this."

_"He's the reason you're in this mess now, right?"_

"Yes, but-"

_"You have spent so much time hating Danielle, but you are just like her."_

Gabriella shook her head, "No. I'm nothing like Danielle."

_"Shall we go down the list? Danielle was sleeping with someone else's boyfriend. So are you. She lied. So did you. And when you're upset, you don't care about anything. Just like Danielle. The difference is Danielle knows she's a bitch. You try to cover it up and act like you aren't."_

"Danielle is nothing but a two-faced whore."

_"And you're better than her how? I really, really want to know why you can't see that you've done the same thing she did. No morals, no standards, nothing."_

Gabriella stood up and looked at her...reflection of sorts. "Shut up."

_"Why? You don't want to hear the truth about yourself? It's the truth Gabriella. Accept it."_

"I don't have to accept anything." Gabriella snapped.

_"Fine, don't bite my head off. You continue to pretend to be an oblivious moron, only hurting yourself in the process. I don't care. Your call. You'll find peace once you accept who you really are."_

"I'm not a slut."

_"Fine, you are so not a slut. You're a tramp, whore, harlot, floozy, hussy, or a trollop. I mean, any of those words work. I personally believe the word slut is overused anyway."_

Gabriella's fist came into contact with the mirror. It shattered into a ton of pieces and shards flew around.

_"Calm down, psycho. I must've struck a nerve. For someone so smart, you are so effing dumb. I'm in your head, not in the mirror. I'm the thing that's tells you what's right and what's wrong. I know you're conscience is supposed to be nice and all. But you don't listen to me when I'm nice, so I gotta get mean. Some might say I'm mentally torturing you, but I call it tough love. I tell you when you're being smart and when you're being stupid. And hon, you're being extremely stupid! You should have listened to me a month ago, but you didn't. I guess your brain shuts off when a guy is ripping your clothes off. Like I said before, you have no morals. You're just like Danielle."_

"I AM NOTHING LIKE HER!" Gabriella's voice boomed off of the walls. The bottles of perfume that were sitting on her vanity shook a bit.

Everything seemed calmer. Quieter. The stupid little voice in Gabriella's head was gone, and it felt like she could start breathing again. She slid down to the floor.

"Gabriella?" Cristina's concerned voice filled Gabriella's ears. "Sweetheart is that you?"

"Gabi?" The door opened and Cristina walked in. She took a look at her daughter and her eyes widened. "What happened?"

"I'm nothing like her." Gabriella repeated, her voice below a whisper.

Cristina crouched down on the floor. She could hear Gabriella muttering.

She gently lifted Gabriella's hand up and inspected it. It was bleeding heavily, and she could see a few shards of glass poking out. Cristina looked at the broken mirror and put 2 and 2 together.

"Gabriella, what happened?"

"She just wouldn't stop talking." Gabriella said, looking at the mirror. "She was mocking me, and she wouldn't shut up. All I wanted her to do was shut up."

"Get who to shut up?"

Gabriella shook her head. Her breathing was heavy, and she was crying. Again. She felt as if she had no control over anything and she was losing her mind. "I'm better than her. I'm better than her. I'm better than her." She repeated over and over again, trying to convince herself that it was the truth.

Cristina helped Gabriella up, "Gabriella, can you hear me?" She asked, confused. Not only was she worried about her daughter's physical health, now she was starting to worry that Gabriella had some sort of psychotic break. She'd focus on that in a minute but Gabriella needed to get her bloody hand checked out. "Gabriella, baby we're going to go to the hospital, okay?"

Gabriella didn't reply. She just let her mother lead her out of the room.

* * *

Troy didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to say. He was standing in front of Danielle and he was at a loss for words. Who could talk after such a high energy day?

He stared at Danielle. Her usually bright and gleaming eyes looked dull and cold. She still looked like she was at a 10. Troy also noticed the cut on her lip. Did Gabriella punch her or slap her? Ouch.

"I can't believe you've been sleeping with Gabriella. How could you?"

Troy scoffed, "How could I? Danielle, how could you? Don't act like you're so fucking innocent because you're not. You were screwing Cole!"

"Leave Cole out of this!"

"I'm not going to leave him out of this, Danielle. You were sleeping with him for Christ's sakes."

"You were sleeping with Gabriella!"

"Slept! It happened one time!"

"One time too many."

"And how many times did you sleep with Cole? Once? Twice? Four times? Every time you made some excuse to not see me, was it to see him?"

"No! What about you and Gabriella? Did you ever really need help in physics? Or did you just need an excuse to get into her pants."

"Despite what you think, my intent was never to cheat on you."

Danielle scoffed, "Sure it wasn't."

"I'm telling you the truth. But I honestly don't know why I owe you an explanation, considering you cheated on me too!"

"Of all the fucking people to have sex with, you chose Gabriella!"

"If anything Gabriella said today is true, then please don't act like you give a damn about her, and that she was actually your friend, Danielle."

"Do you even feel bad?"

"Do you?"

"You didn't answer my question."

"I'm not sorry that I slept with her. I wanted to do that. I'm sorry that you're hurt."

"Wow. You disgust me."

"The feeling is more than mutual. Trust me."

Danielle shook her head, "If you didn't know by now, we're done. Goodbye." She walked out of his room, slamming the door furiously behind her.

Troy ran his hand over his face. God, today really sucked. If he could wake up and start over, he would without hesitation.

He grabbed his phone. He had a ton of missed calls and text messages from people, pretending to be concerned but in reality, just wanted to be nosy. He ignored all of them. He only wanted to talk to one person. Gabriella.

"Hello?" A voice said on the other line. It definitely didn't sound like Gabriella.

"Gabriella? Is that you?"

"No, it's her mother, Cristina."

"Oh! Hello, Mrs. Montez." Troy greeted. "This is Troy Bolton."

"Hello Troy. Gabriella can't talk right now."

"Is she alright?"

"We're at the hospital. She punched her mirror and has to get stitches in her hand."

"Is she going to be alright?"

"Physically, yes. Troy can you tell me what happened today?"

"She and Danielle got into a horrible fight."

"You got to be more specific, honey. This seems like a lot more than a fight."

"With all due respect, Mrs. Montez, it really isn't my place to say."

"Troy, Gabriella has been mute for the past 20 minutes. She punched a mirror, and when I found her she was hysterically crying, bleeding, and muttering about telling someone to shut up and that she isn't like Danielle. I'm one second away from sending her upstairs to the psychiatric wing, to get a psych evaluation. If you know anything, please speak, now!"

Troy sighed. This was going to be a long conversation.


	11. The Day After

Cristina stood in the doorway of her daughter's bedroom, just watching her. Watching the way she slept, the way she kicked the covers off of her, the way her mouth was slightly open, the way her right hand curled into a ball-the left hand couldn't move, considering her stitches would rip.

Cristina felt a sense of relief and calm wash over her, knowing that Gabriella was safe, and at home. Troy told her what happened and her heart broke into a million tiny pieces.

"She's fine." Greg said, sneaking up behind his wife. He put his chin on her shoulder.

"I just want to make sure. She's had such a horrible day."

"Gabriella is home with us right now. You don't need to stare at her."

Cristina bit her lip, "I knew she and Danielle had a rather...tumultuous friendship, but I never thought it was this bad."

"No one would have thought it, Cris. Teenagers don't talk."

"I can't help but blame myself."

"Why?"

"I made her come back here. She was fine in L.A. She was happy. She was living the life she never lived, and being a teenager. And we forced her to come back."

"We didn't make her and Danielle and Troy do this."

"But none of this would have happened if-"

"We can't blame ourselves."

Cristina closed her eyes, and shook her head. "I was so scared today. When I found her earlier, I didn't know what was going on."

"I know."

"What are we going to do?" Cristina asked.

"Do you think she should talk to someone?"

"Like a therapist?"

"Yeah."

"Gabriella would never go for that."

"Gabriella has been holding a lot in for 10 years and look at what happened. And the chances of her talking to her parents, is slim to none. She needs someone to talk to."

"Greg-"

"You want her to keep punching mirrors and busting her hand open?"

"No."

"She may hate us now, but she'll thank us later."

Cristina contemplated what her husband was saying. She knew deep down that he was right. "Okay."

"Don't blame yourself. You're a good mother."

"Thanks."

"It's the truth. We can't be perfect, Cris, but I happen to think we're pretty darn close."

Cristina smiled, "Oh really?"

"Yeah. It's hard being amazing 99% of the time, so don't be hard on yourself. We did what we thought was best for our daughter. We wanted her here with us, so don't blame yourself for being a good mom, Cris."

* * *

Gabriella laid in her bed the next day, and looked at her hand. She had been doing that all day long. She groaned. God, she acted like such a fucking freak yesterday. That wasn't like her at all, to go off the rail.

There was a knock at her door. It was probably her mom. "Come in."

The door opened and in walked Taylor, holding a giant bag, and Gabriella's purse. "Hey."

"Hey." Gabriella looked at her alarm clock. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at school?"

"We got out early." Taylor replied, kicking off her sandals and climbing into Gabriella's bed. "You're car is in the driveway."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

They fell into a silence. Taylor didn't really know what to say, and Gabriella didn't really want to say much.

Eventually, Gabriella turned to Taylor. "How's Chad?"

"He has a black eye."

Gabriella gasped, "Oh no. I feel horrible. Can you tell him that I'm so sorry?"

"He knows you didn't mean it." Taylor smirked, "But you got him good, Gabs."

"That wasn't me yesterday. I don't know what happened."

"Everyone has their breaking point. You reached yours."

"Everyone probably thinks I'm a freak."

"Well...I wouldn't say everyone."

"What do you mean?"

"The school is pretty much divided. Team Gabriella, and team Danielle."

"This isn't Twilight. Who does the team stuff?"

"Apparently East High. Some people really sympathize with you, and some people can only see what you and Troy did."

"Well as long as my parents still love me, I could honestly care less about what others think of me."

"Well just for the record, I'll always be team Gabriella."

"Thank you."

Taylor quickly glanced at Gabriella's hand, "Want to talk about it?"

Gabriella shook her head, "Not really. Yesterday is a day I never want to talk about again."

"Fine. It's already forgotten." Taylor held up the bag. "I have chocolates, gummy worms, Skittles, Starbursts, popcorn, kettle corn, and Sprite I also have The Notebook, The Proposal, Step Up, and Dear John plus the entire first season of Sex and The City."

Gabriella frowned, "Ryan Gosling, Ryan Reynolds, or Channing Tatum. I also have to factor in watching SJP in Manolos, while looking at Chris Noth. Taylor, must you make things so difficult?"

"Alphabetical order?"

"Yeah."

"Great." Taylor hopped off of the bed. "You put in the movie while I get the popcorn."

Gabriella smiled. She had an amazing best friend. "Tay, I love you."

Taylor blew Gabriella a kiss. "Love you too, dah-ling."

* * *

"Work, work, and more work." Cristina muttered, grabbing a portfolio off of her desk. She put it into a file cabinet. "No one is ever healthy in New Mexico."

Nicole, Taylor's mother, sat opposite of Cristina. "Preaching to the choir. So many hours of listening to people, studying them, analyzing them. A patient of mine called me a cold, cryptic bitch today."

"Why?"

"She felt as if I didn't care about her or her problems because apparently didn't empathize with her, and I was looking down on her."

"All of my patients tend to be knocked out, so I don't get called a bitch for helping someone."

"Well welcome to the world of Nicole Andrews McKessie."

"Well speaking of your line of work, I could really use your help."

"What's going on? Everything alright with you?"

Cristina sat back down at her desk, "With me, yes. With Gabriella, no. So by default, I am not alright."

"Taylor told me what happened yesterday. She said Gabriella punched Chad in the face."

Cristina's eyes widened. She definitely didn't know that. "What?"

"It's okay, though. Chad isn't upset or anything."

"He may not be, but I am."

"Anyway, what's going on with Gabriella?"

"Well she came home early yesterday when Greg and I were working in our offices. Then out of nowhere, I heard a loud bang, and Gabriella yelling to the top of her lungs. I rush to her room and I find her sitting on the flooring, crying, she punched her mirror and her hand was bleeding. And I kept talking to her, but I don't really think she heard me. She kept muttering and saying stuff under her breath about Danielle."

"How is she?"

"She's at home right now. She had to get stitches in her hand. I was going to send her to get a psych evaluation, but she just looked so distraught, and tired that Greg and I decided against it."

Nicole frowned, "Poor Gabriella."

"Do you think you can talk to her?" Cristina asked.

"Me?"

"Yes. Last time I checked, you were a psychiatrist."

"Yeah, but do you think it will appropriate?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well in order to get a good read on a patient, the therapist and the patient shouldn't really have an outside relationship. You and I are friends, Taylor and Gabriella are friends. Do you think that's a conflict of interest?"

"Okay, that makes sense."

"And it's not like I could tell you anything. Unless Gabriella said she was going to kill herself, or someone else. I could lose my job and my license."

"I don't need you to tell me what she says. I just need her to talk to someone."

"Alright. Well, there are other psychiatrists here. Maybe you can try one of them."

"I'll really consider it."

There was a knock on the door and Danielle's mother, Alexis walked in. "Cristina?"

Cristina turned from Nicole, "Hi Alexis."

"Am I interrupting anything?" Alexis asked, stepping into the office.

"No."

Nicole looked at her watch, "Well I have a patient to see." She got out of her seat. "Cristina, we'll finish our conversation later?"

"Yeah. Bye Nicole."

Nicole walked past Alexis and smiled, "Alexis."

Alexis gave her a tight smile. She wasn't really in the mood to be polite. "Hello Nicole."

Nicole walked out of Cristina's office and Alexis sat down. Cristina pointed to her coffee maker. "Coffee?"

"No thank you."

"Well Alexis, what can I do for you?"

Alexis sighed, "Danielle told me about what happened and I just wanted to talk to you about it, since Gabriella and Danielle can't."

"Alright."

"When my daughter comes home and is visibly upset, of course I'm going to be upset."

Cristina nodded, "Yeah, I'm upset too."

"Gabriella was upset? Why, because she got caught betraying her best friend?"

Cristina bit her lip to keep from saying some very inappropriate things to Alexis. She had to remind herself that she was at work. "No, she was upset because Danielle publically humiliated her."

"Gabriella humiliated Danielle by sleeping with Troy Bolton, who is Danielle's boyfriend."

"Alexis, what Gabriella and Troy did is the least of my concerns."

"Why not? I mean the fact that your daughter has no moral compass should concern you."

Okay, Alexis crossed the line. She pissed Cristina off. "Gabriella has no moral compass? Alexis I don't know if you know this or not, but your daughter has been verbally and emotionally abusing my daughter since they were six years old. Danielle knew Gabriella struggled with her weight, so she used it against her. She tormented her. That's why Gabriella left. Because she could not handle it anymore. Who knows what type of emotional damage my daughter has had to endure at the expense of your daughter. And Danielle put Gabriella in the hospital. Your daughter was sleeping with someone else's boyfriend, and you have the audacity to come into my place of work and insult my daughter? You need to step back and look at the young lady _you're_ raising because Danielle is no angel, not by a long shot. Have you ever wondered why no one likes Danielle? It's nit because they're jealous, it's because she is a mean girl. 100%, to the bone, mean. Now what Gabriella did was wrong, and I'm not proud of what she did, but look at the reason why she did it. I'm sure Danielle left out that entire chunk of the argument, didn't she?"

Alexis was stunned into silence. The conversation did not go as planned. She didn't know what to say.

Cristina cleared her throat. She stood up, walked over to the door, and opened it. "Alexis, this was a lovely conversation, but I have work to do, so I'll have to ask you to leave."

Alexis got up, "Bye Cristina."

"Bye." Cristina shut the door once Alexis walked out of the office.

Cristina Montez was usually calm, mellow, and tolerated a lot of things, but if you so much as breathe a negative word about her children, she'll rip your head off.

* * *

Gabriella looked at her cell phone. Troy had called her 10 times today, and it was starting to annoy her. If the ignored phone calls and text messages weren't giving Troy any hints, she didn't know what would.

She looked down at Taylor, who was laying beside her. Sometime during The Notebook, she had fallen asleep, a bowl on popcorn sitting on her legs.

Her phone rang again. It was obvious that Troy was not going to leave her alone.

Gabriella quietly crept out of her bed and out of her room. Once she was in the hallway, she answered her phone.

"What?"

"Montez! Thank you for-"

"Are you stupid? Or are you just trying to piss me off?"

"What do you mean?" Troy asked.

"Look, I don't know if you listened to the voice mail or not. Maybe Danielle deleted it. But I said that you and I should separate from each other."

"I listened. Look, Danielle and I broke up, so if you're worried about her, then you don't have to be."

"Right now, I could not care less about Danielle."

"Then why are you avoiding me? Again, might I add."

"Are you blind? Every time you and I are in the same room, something that should not happen, happens. You and I are horrible at being just friends."

"Okay."

"It's not okay, Troy. It hasn't been "okay" since I came back here. Everything has been a complete and utter mess. My life, your life, Danielle's life."

"What do you want to do?"

"I want you to leave me alone."

"Algebra girl-"

"Please." Gabriella pleaded. "For the sake of my sanity, can you just leave me alone?"

"Is this what you're going to do?" Troy asked. "You're going to act like nothing ever happened, and pretend that I mean nothing to you? You gonna erase me out of your life because things got a little messy?"

"A little messy?" Gabriella scoffed. "A little messy is a complete understatement. Yesterday was not a little messy, Troy. It was the worst fucking day of my life. It wasn't a little messy. Things between us have been nothing but trouble, and I can't handle any more drama in my life right now. So can you respect my decision?"

"Yes, I can."

"Thank you." Gabriella said. She took the phone away from her ear and hung up. She walked back into her room.

"You could've stayed in here." Taylor said, startling Gabriella.

Gabriella put her hand over her heart. It was beating rapidly. "Tay! I didn't know you woke up."

Taylor yawned as she sat up. "Yeah, you left the door open and you talked pretty loud, so it kinda defeated the purpose of leaving."

"Sorry for waking you."

"I'll sleep later."

"Are you sleeping over?"

"Yeah."

"Yay."

"You can't run from him, you know."

"What?"

"Running from Troy isn't going to make you feel better, and it isn't going to make things simple."

Gabriella flopped down on her bed, dramatically. "Tay, I can't handle Troy right now."

"What about when you're ready? What are you going to do?"

Gabriella shrugged, "This is really hard." She put her head on Taylor's shoulder.

"Things are hard when you're around Troy, things are hard when you're not around Troy. Would you like my opinion?"

"Sure."

"I'd rather be happy and fight for something I want, than be miserable and fight against it. And you my friend, are miserable."

"I'm not miserable."

"You're lying to yourself."

Gabriella shook her head. She was fine. Wasn't she?

* * *

Gah, I'm horrible, I suck. I know. I was supposed to update this story a while ago but, my immune system sucks, and I got sick. Then school decide to kick my ass this week. But anyway, I updated, so yay! :) And aren't Cristina and Taylor just great. What would we do without our fiercely protective moms and loyal best friends? Anyway, until next time. xoxox. Have a good weekend!


	12. Talking, Talking, & More Talking

"My mother has made a mistake." Gabriella said, staring at the psychologist, Dr. Penelope Hayes. "I don't need a therapist."

"Your mother begs to differ."

"I'm not a psychopath." Gabriella insisted. "I don't think this is really necessary, Dr. Hayes."

"I never said you were a psychopath, Gabriella, and neither did your mother." Penelope pointed out. "You just need to talk to someone."

"I'm fine."

Penelope pointed to Gabriella's hand, "I wouldn't say that, Gabriella."

"Why not?"

Penelope pointed to Gabriella's hand, "Well, look at your hand. You aren't "fine", sweetheart."

"This will heal. I'm fine."

Penelope sighed and took off her glasses. "Okay, pretend I didn't study psychology, I didn't get a PhD., and these degrees aren't on the walls. Act like I'm a normal person, and I'm not a doctor. Let's just have a nice conversation."

"I don't think so."

"I'll start. I was born Penelope Karina Mendoza in Brookyln, New York. I'm 47 years old, and my husband, Arnold and I have been married for 20 years, and we have a boy and girl and a German shepherd." Penelope smiled. "Your turn."

"My name is Gabriella Marie Montez. My parents are Dr. Gregory Montez, anethesiologist and Dr. Cristina Montez, surgeon. And my mother is making me talk to you."

"Your mother is worried about you."

"Well mothers tend to worry for no reason, right? My mother is always saying that."

"That's true, but I'm pretty positive that your mother has reason to be concerned. You punched a mirror and you have stitches in your hand."

"I was angry, I get that. Still no reason to send me to you."

"You were talking to yourself." Penelope added, reading the note that Cristina had given to her.

"A lot of people do."

"You and your best friend, Danielle, are no longer best friends."

"Danielle is not my best friend!" Gabriella snapped.

"Ooh, I struck a nerve. Penelope-1, Gabriella-0."

"Can we not talk about Danielle please?"

"Why not?"

"I don't want to talk about her, obviously."

"Well unfortunately for you, therapy involves talking and lots of it. So let's talk about her."

"There isn't much to say. She's a slutty, bottom feeding, lying piece of trash."

"Wow, you're mother was right about you."

"What do you mean?" Gabriella asked.

"She said you have a heart of gold, and a sharp, venom laced tongue. I thought she was joking when she said that, but obviously, she was not."

"I'm brutally honest at times."

"Now, back to Danielle. Did you always feel like she was, and I quote a," Penelope looked at her notepad, "slutty, bottom feeding, lying piece of trash."?"

Gabriella rolled her eyes. She made it perfectly clear that she didn't want to talk about Danielle. She didn't really want to talk about anything, especially a doctor who was probably going to judge her.

"Look Penelope-"

"Tell me about how you and Danielle first met."

"How we met?"

"Yeah. What was the start of this all?"

Gabriella shrugged, "It was at a charity event for the hospital, like ten years ago. Her dad and my parents are doctors. I think she complimented me on my shoes, and the rest is history."

"Tell me about your relationship with her before you two hated each other."

"We were two normal girls. We slept over at each other's houses. We shared secrets, we did everything together. She was one of my best friends."

"But she was always making fun of you?"

"Yeah, but I never really paid attention to it. She'd make little digs, or say or do something. Like we'd be out at lunch, and she would suggest I get a salad. Or we would pass a gym, and she'd say I should say get a membership. The only time she's ever come close to calling me fat was at the end of freshman year."

"What happened?"

"Okay, there is a guy that I liked for a while." Gabriella started.

"What's his name?"

"Is that important right now?"

"Yes. Everything is important, Gabriella."

"His name is Troy. Troy Bolton."

"I know Troy. His mother is a dentist right?"

"Orthodontist to be exact. Everyone in that family has perfect teeth."

"So you had a crush on Troy Bolton, and what happened?"

"Danielle started going out with him."

"I can see how that drove a wedge in between you two. Did you confront her?"

Gabriella nodded, "Yes, and she was so cavalier about it. She didn't care. She thought I should get over it."

"How insensitive of her."

"She also said that Troy would never be with someone like me because I wasn't skinny. And it felt like someone knocked the wind out of me. That's when I stopped talking to her."

"Let's pause right there, and jump to a new topic."

"Yay."

"Your weight."

"Boo."

"I'm guessing it's a touchy subject for you?"

"Yeah, it is."

"Great, so we are going to talk about it."

"Excuse me?"

"Things people don't want to talk about usually are the reason, or part of the reason they come to people like me in the first place. They don't want to talk about them, but they need to in order to grow." Penelope explained. "So, let's start."

"I was tormented about my size for years. Danielle being one of the biggest tormentors. I was always forcing myself and pushing myself to be like Danielle. I joined gyms, I would diet, crash diets, eating only a few hundred calories a day."

Penelope's eyes got huge. "Sweetheart, that is one of the most dangerous things you can do. Your body will panic, your metabolism will slow down and try to hold on the fat, and you get no results."

"I know that now. I'm not still doing that. After completely failing at that, I would get so upset, I'd binge eat for a few days."

"Okay, practically starving yourself and binge eating are polar opposites. You were on both ends of the spectrum."

"Like I said, I know that. Anyway, after Danielle spit on our friendship, I moved to Los Angeles for a year. I stayed with my aunt. That's when I lost all of that weight. I guess I needed to get out of Albuquerque and clear my head to actually get in shape. Physically and mentally."

"Why did you come back?"

"My parents thought it would be a good idea. They missed me and wanted to be with me."

"Did you want to come back?"

Gabriella shook her head, "Not at all. If I could have, I would have stayed at my aunt's house in Los Angeles."

"Okay, you have made your feelings about Danielle pretty clear, but one thing isn't making sense to me."

"What?"

"Just officially have you and Danielle stopped being friends, which means everyone but you thought that you two were best friends." Penelope said. "Why were you lying to everyone?"

"I...I guess I wanted to dig around. I wanted to spy on her. Spy on Danielle and Troy's relationship."

"Why? Did you want to break Danielle and Troy up?"

"No, I was hoping Troy would come to his senses and dump Danielle on his own."

"Did you find anything out?"

"Danielle was cheating on Troy."

"And you didn't tell him?"

"Didn't say a word."

"Even though you liked her boyfriend? I mean, it sounds like you were given a golden ticket, but you didn't go to the chocolate factory."

"I just felt like I shouldn't be the one to do it."

"It sounds like you were protecting Danielle."

"I wasn't."

"Really? You may have been protecting her subconsciously. You didn't even know it. You two were best friends at some point, you had loyalty to her and it's hard to shut someone off completely. Even if you hate her, somewhere way deep down inside, you may still love her. And it's completely normal for ex-friends or partners to feel that way. It's normal."

Gabriella chewed on her bottom lip, and silently mulled over what Penelope said to her. Was she trying to protect Danielle?

"Or were you trying to protect Troy?" Penelope continued. "Maybe you didn't want him to get hurt. Or maybe it was a little bit of both."

"I don't know."

"You should really think about that one."

"I will."

"Good. Now let's talk about Troy."

"Moving from one crappy subject to the next. Oh joy."

"You and Troy aren't speaking either?"

"It's more like I'm avoiding him."

Penelope nodded, and grabbed a pen out of a cup. "Yeah, we are going to talk about him. Why aren't you speaking to Troy?"

"Because when I'm around him, I usually do things I am not supposed to do."

"Like?"

"Want me to start from the beginning?"

"That would be lovely, dear."

"Troy and I never really talked outside of school before I left for L.A. We had math together, and my sister and his brother are good friends but he and I barely knew each other. The day I came back here, it's like he and I had been friends for years. It was extremely easygoing and we connected."

"Okay."

"Danielle was terribly jealous of our friendship from the beginning, whether she wants to admit it or not. She hated that Troy and her now pretty friend are friendly."

"Did she do anything?"

"She put me in the hospital."

Penelope's mouth fell open. "How?"

"She hit me in the face, and I fell and hit my head." Gabriella replied.

"How do you feel about that?"

"It's been a few months since it happened, but when I think about it for too long, I want to punch Danielle in the face."

Penelope scribbled something down in her notebook. "That's understandable. Did you punch her in the face?"

"No, but I did slap her."

"Because she put you in the hospital?"

"No, she shoved me, so I slapped her."

"I feel like this physical confrontation was caused by a completely different reason."

"Oh, it was."

"Would you like to tell me what it was?"

Gabriella shook her head, "Nope."

"Gabriella." Penelope groaned. "Come on. We were making such great progress."

"I don't want to talk about it."

Penelope got out of her seat and walked over to a drawer. She pulled out a bag of Doritos. "I feel like you're putting up a wall. This office is a no wall zone. Would you like some Doritos?"

"No thank you."

"They're Spicy Nacho flavored." Penelope added. "Everyone loves Spicy Nacho Doritos."

"I'm fine. Really."

"Alright." Penelope opened the bag of chips. "Now why did you and Danielle get into a physical confrontation?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Gabriella repeated, her voice more firm. "I thought I made that blatantly clear."

"Please. I won't be able to help you if you don't tell me anything."

"I didn't ask for your help in the first place. My mom did, so why don't you talk to her."

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"You're emotionally shutting down on me." Penelope explained, putting a few chips in her mouth. "And that's not good. Now tell me what happened. Pretty please."

"Haven't I already told you enough about my life? I think I have. And when is this hour going to be up?"

Penelope looked at her watch, "We still have enough time to talk, so...let's start talking."

"If I talk to you, will you stop using terms like "walls" and "emotionally shut down"? They're annoying."

"I won't. I promise."

"Troy and I...he...we slept together." Gabriella spit out.

"Oh! Wow, I was not expecting you to say that."

"Danielle found out, and we got into a huge argument. You want to know what she said?"

"What did she say?"

"She had the nerve to call me a bad friend. Me! I was an amazing friend to her for 8 years and she completely trashed it! I was nothing but loyal to her and what did I get in return? Nothing. I get a busted up hand, and a therapy session."

"Gabriella-"

"Who was there for her when her first boyfriend dumped her flat on her ass for Jackie Tesch? Me. Who was there when she broke her leg and couldn't try out for cheerleading? Me. Who stayed at the hospital with her when her dad had a heart attack? Certainly not the pope. It was me. Gabriella Montez, that's who."

"We are off topic now." Penelope said, trying to get her attention.

"And you want to know what Danielle does for me? She calls me fat. She steals the guy I like. She hits me in the face with a basketball, gives me a concussion, and doesn't even apologize. She pretty much feels like I should be thankful for her friendship. She wants me to worship the ground she walks on, and kiss her feet. Danielle is nothing but a bully and a tyrant, and she's incredibly vain and vapid and egotistical. One of the smartest things I have ever done was remove her from my life permanently. She can rot in hell for the rest of eternity for all I care."

Penelope nodded, understandingly. "I'm glad you got that out of your system. Now back to the topic at hand, Troy Bolton."

"What?"

"We were talking about Troy Bolton and you kind of segued into another thing. So let's get back to Troy."

"What else is there to say? We hooked up, and Danielle and I fought."

"No, I don't think you're telling me the entire story."

"Troy and I are...extremely complicated."

"I'm a therapist. I'm surrounded by complicated scenarios and situations all the time. I love complicated things."

"I can't really explain it. He and I went from being friends, to people who were always in some sort of sexual situation, to people who aren't speaking."

"Why aren't you speaking to each other?"

"Because I'm ignoring him."

"Do you think ignoring him is a good idea?"

"I don't know. What should I do?"

Penelope shrugged, "I don't know. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know, that's why I'm asking you."

"I can't tell you want to do because I'm not in your situation."

"You aren't really helping me, Penelope."

"I am, trust me. Therapy is a process. Rome was not built in a day, sweetie."

"I don't have time for a process."

"Would you like me to tell you what I think?"

"No, not really."

"Well I'm gonna tell you anyway. I think you're scared."

"Scared?"

"Yes. I think you like order, and peace, and stability. You are afraid of change and you don't like going out of your comfort zone."

"I go outside of my comfort zone. Coming to therapy completely pulled me out of my comfort zone."

"You didn't want to come here. You were forced to. I want you to do something this week, Gabriella. I want you to go out of the box and do something that scares you. Can you do that?"

"How you suppose I do that?"

"Let's say hypothetically you go to Starbucks every morning and you get grande hot chocolate. I want you to get a venti iced caramel macchioto with extra caramel." Penelope explained. "I also want you to re-evaluate your relationships with Danielle and Troy, because I think-"

Penelope was cut off by a beeping noise. She looked her watch. "Well our time is up."

"No! You were in the middle of telling me something."

"I'll tell you next week."

"Next week? What do you mean next week?"

"Well you and I are going to be seeing each other for an hour a week until I think you are cured. You're mother didn't tell you?"

"No. She didn't.

"Well you are." Penelope smiled. "I'll see you then."

Gabriella stood up, "Yeah. See you."

* * *

"Troy? Troy, can you see me?" Marcus asked, messing with his computer screen.

"I can see you Marcus." Troy replied.

"Skype is just so confusing."

"No it isn't. You're just stupid."

"You're calling a college student stupid. Isn't it ironic?"

"It's the truth."

"Is everybody home?"

"Nope, I'm alone."

"How is everyone?"

"We're okay. I think Mom has a stomach bug, but she'll be fine."

"Well, I want you to meet someone." Marcus motioned for someone to come over to him. A young girl appeared in Troy's view. "Troy is Ashleigh. Ashleigh, this is my brother Troy."

Ashleigh smiled, "Hi!"

"Nice to meet you, Ashleigh."

"Troy, a little birdie told me that you have two women fighting over you. Is this true?"

Troy shook his head, "Not at all. Two women fighting over me would involve them actually wanting to be with me. Danielle and I broke up, and Gabriella won't even talk to me."

Ashleigh frowned, "Oh no. What happened?"

Before Troy could even open his mouth, Marcus was already talking. "He cheated on his girlfriend with her friend, and apparently neither girl is talking to him."

"Thanks Marcus."

"I personally would have picked girls who are polar opposites, like a cheerleader, and president of the chem club. They have nothing in common, they would never talk to each other and you wouldn't get caught." Marcus explained. "But you picked best friends, who are now fighting because of you."

"Trust me when I say that their problems run way deeper than me. I was just the icing on top of their dysfunctional cake."

"I heard they got into a fist fight. Is that true?"

"Well, Danielle pushed Gabriella and Gabriella slapped her."

"How hard was the slap?"

"Pretty hard."

Marcus smiled, "Yes! Go Gabriella."

"Marcus!" Ashleigh scolded. "It's not nice to condone violence."

Troy smirked, "Yeah, Marcus."

"Troy, you don't have room to talk since you were cheating."

"Danielle was cheating on me too." Troy said.

"Don't try to justify your actions, mister. You guys were both wrong. You can't do that to women. That is how their lives become Lifetime movies, because they end up snapping and killing you. Do you want your life to be a Lifetime movie?"

Troy wasn't really expecting to get a scolding from a complete stranger. "So what should I do?"

"You guys should apologize to each other." Ashleigh suggested.

Troy scoffed, "Danielle isn't going to apologize. And now that I think about it, neither is Gabriella. They'd rather die than apologize each other."

"Why don't you apologize."

"Because saying sorry would mean that I was wrong. Honestly, I don't apologize for sleeping with Gabriella."

"You must've hurt your ex-girlfriend's feelings. Don't you feel sorry for that?"

Before Troy could answer, the doorbell rang. "Someone's here. I'll talk to you later, Marcus. Nice talking to you, Ashleigh."

Marcus nodded, "Alright. See you next week."

Ashleigh waved, "Bye. Think about what I said, 'kay?"

"I will."

Troy ended the Skype call and shut his laptop. He was shocked. Marcus actually found a girlfriend with a brain. Sure, she was extremely perky, but she _had_ a brain no less. Pigs must be flying and hell must have frozen over.

He made it to the front door. "Who is it?" No one answered. He rolled his eyes. He unlocked the door and pulled it open. "I said who-"

Troy's voiced faltered. Speak of the devil. Danielle was at his front door.

"Hi." Danielle greeted.

* * *

**Ok, so I though I'd leave it at that. Read and review! xD**


	13. Closure and Bad News

Troy stared at Danielle in shock. He was not expecting to see her at his house. What was she doing at his house? What did she want?

"Danielle." Troy stated.

"When someone greets you, it's nice to greet them back." Danielle replied, running her fingers through her hair.

"What do you want?" Troy asked.

"I want to talk to you."

"Well, I don't want to talk to you." Troy put his hand on the door and was ready to close it, when Danielle pushed against it. "Bye Danielle."

"No!"

"Danielle, this isn't up for debate. Leave."

"No." Danielle repeated.

"I'll call the police." Troy threatened.

Danielle rolled her eyes, "And say what?"

"That a trespasser won't leave my house. You can leave in a lovely cop car."

"I'm not going to go until you talk to me. Don't you think you owe me that much?"

"I don't owe you a damn thing, Danielle."

Danielle huffed in annoyance, "Can you let me in? Please? I said please." Troy opened the door and Danielle walked inside. "Is anyone else here?"

"No." Troy answered, shutting the door behind them.

"Good. We can talk in private."

Troy sat down on his couch, "What do you want to talk about?"

Danielle paced in front of Troy, "I've thought about this moment for a few days now. What I would do, what I would say. Would I yell at you? Would I slap you? Curse you out? Now that I am in front of you, I don't know what I want."

"Well you gave up your right to be upset at me for anything when you started sleeping with someone who wasn't me." Troy pointed out, his tone not nice and welcoming at all.

"You can't be mad at me either. You slept with Gabriella!"

"Danielle, are you here to have an argument that we had a week ago? If so, you can leave."

"No, I didn't come here for that." Danielle said, sitting down opposite of Troy.

"Okay."

"I came here to...apologize." Danielle revealed.

Troy looked at her as if she had grown two more heads. He almost burst into hysterical laughter because the thought of Danielle apologizing was extremely funny. He decided not to laugh and just scoffed, "Yeah right."

"After a lot of thinking, and reflecting, and talking to my family, I came to realization that maybe I did not handle things that right way. I am...sorry."

Troy didn't say anything. He didn't have words. He tried to open his mouth a few times, but no words came out.

"Why didn't you break up with me?" Troy questioned, a few moments of silence, genuinely curious. "If you wanted to be with someone else, you could have said so."

"Why didn't you?" Danielle retorted.

"Don't try to turn this around on me."

"Maybe I didn't want to let you go, Troy. Is it so hard to believe that over the course of our relationship you actually meant something to me?"

"I didn't mean much to you because you cheated on me." Troy replied, bitterly.

"Well why didn't you break up with me?" Danielle shot back. "Then you and Gabriella could have rode off into the sunset together."

"What Gabriella and I did was a one time thing. We weren't thinking, we just did it."

"You weren't thinking. You weren't using your brain." Danielle stated. "Your penis just led you to her house! If you wanted to just "do something" with Gabriella that involved any type of physicality, you should have jumped rope."

"I'm sorry."

"No you aren't."

"I'm sorry if I hurt you."

"You did." Danielle said, curtly. "You did hurt me. Despite popular belief, I do have a heart. It really sucks to know that your boyfriend and best friend betrayed you, and are albe to look yoy in the eye when they lie."

"Gabriella wasn't your best friend."

"We fought, and we had our moments, but she was my friend."

"Best friends don't treat each other the way you treated Gabriella. Why on earth were you so mean to her?"

Danielle bit her lip, "Have you seen Gabriella? She's ridiculously smart, she's gorgeous, she's really nice, she's funny, she's tall, she's charming. She has been close to perfect ever since I met her. In your words, she's the girl with a 4.3 GPA and big boobs. She's always had a sparkle about her. People were always comparing us, so we were always in competition. And when I realized that her weakness was her weight, I pounced on it. It's easy to be mean to someone you envy."

"I get that friendships have rivalries, but you took it too far. Your jealousy or rivalry or whatever you two have, put Gabriella in the hospital."

"I know. I freaked out, okay! Honestly, how would you react if I was at your house, shamelessy flirting with Chad twenty feet away from you? What would you do?"

"I wouldn't hit him in the face with a basketball."

"I wasn't planning on hitting her." Danielle insisted. "I don't know what I was going to do. I wasn't thinking. Just like you don't use your brain, I didn't either. How do you react to your boyfriend basically tell you that he's cheating on you?" Danielle took a deep breath. "How was I supposed to feel when I heard Gabriella admit that you two slept together, and that you probably would have again? What do I do when I see that you are falling for another girl?"

"Danielle-"

"Now whether you are going to admit it or not, you have some sort of feelings for Gabriella." Danielle shrugged. "And maybe I've always known and just didn't want to admit it. Maybe that's why I hated your friendship with her from the start. Maybe that's why I didn't want to let you go. I held on to you as tight as I could becuase I didn't want her to have you. You were always with her, always hanging out with her. She was your best friend. You trust her, you confide in her. She was right when she said that I wasn't enough to keep you away from her. She had to tell you to stop talking to her. You wanted her, psychically, emotionally, I don't know. It doesn't matter." She let out a humorless chuckle. "Honestly, I'd rather you sleep with any other person on the planet."

"What? Why?"

"There are so many reasons why. One, it would hurt less. Two, I was talking to Gabriella about you. She knew how I felt. She knew what was going on. Three, she had feelings for you. I knew that was a red flag right there, but I thought she was over it. I never suspected anything to happen. The Gabriella I knew wouldn't do something like that to me."

Troy felt like he had entered the Twilight Zone. He and Danielle Asher were having a normal conversation just days after finding out they were cheating on each other. There was no yelling, no name calling, nothing. What the hell was going on?

"And I'm sorry about Cole." Danielle continued.

"How long had you two been seeing each other?"

"Since September. Apparently, your brother wasn't the only person who saw me hit Gabriella. He asked me about it a few days later, and I told him the same thing I told you. He didn't judge me, or look down on me. And I guess the rest is history."

"You didn't care about his girlfriend? Sabrina?"

Danielle nodded, "I did at first. He said they broke up, and I believed him. I never saw them together, no one ever talked about her. Until Gabriella mentioned her the other day, I was clueless. And I didn't care. He was just there. We didn't talk about each other's lives, families. If I had it my way, there would have been no talking at all. That's the difference between me and Cole, and you and Gabriella."

"What was the difference?"

"He wasn't my friend. I didn't care about him. I don't talk to him. His mom doesn't give me peanut butter cookies when I was sick. You and Gabriella hung out almost every day, you talked all the time, if you were at the mall, Gabriella was there. If Gabriella was at the library, so were you. It looked like you and Gabriella were dating."

"No it didn't." Troy argued.

"Yes it did, Troy. Everyone saw it. So either you are just really oblivious, or you're lying to me. And yourself."

"Why do you think-" Troy started.

"It's written all over your face, so you can sit here and say that she means nothing to you, but we both know that it would be a lie." Danielle cut in. "And like Gabriella said, she's had a crush on you since we were younger so-"

"Is that why you asked me out?" Troy asked. "Not because you wanted to be with me, but you wanted to beat Gabriella at something?"

"She wasn't the only person at East High that thought you were attractive." Danielle answered. "But maybe knowing I could beat her at something was just extra."

"So our entire relationship was a lie? You just used me as a pawn to piss Gabriella off?"

Danielle shook her head, "No. If that were the case, I would have dumped you right after Gabriella left. We did have a fun time together, and I did come to care about you."

"I care about you too." Troy was telling the truth. Danielle wasn't always such a mean person. Especially around him. She was a normal girl, and for the most part, they were a normal couple.

"You just weren't in love with me." Danielle stated, sadly. "And I wasn't in love with you."

"So what do we do now?"

"I don't know. Just continue with our lives, I guess. I just had to talk to you. I couldn't continue dwelling on this.

"I'm glad you were able to get it off your chest."

Danielle nodded, "Yeah. Me too."

"Are you going to talk to Gabriella?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. I don't think we need to be around each other at the moment, though."

"Yeah, I wouldn't suggest talking to her. Not right now, at least."

"Maybe one day." Danielle stood up. "I'm sorry."

Troy stood up also. "I'm sorry too. I wish everything didn't have to play out like this."

"Me too, but that's life. So can we not hate each other?"

"Yes."

Danielle held out her hand for Troy to shake. "Bye, Troy."

Troy grabbed Danielle's hand and pulled her into a hug. "Bye, Dani."

Danielle pulled away and headed towards the door.

Troy watched as Danielle left his house. Never in a million years did he expect that to happen. He pinched himself to make sure everything wasn't a weird dream.

Troy ran his hand over his face. "I need to go lay down."

* * *

"You and Danielle talked?" Chad asked his friend. "Like, talked?"

Troy nodded, "Yes, we just talked. And she apologized to me."

"Did she slip you something? Are you sure you weren't hallucinating?"

"I'm positive."

"You must be talking about a different Danielle because I refuse to believe Danielle Asher apologized to you."

Troy shook his head, "Danielle Asher, tall, blonde, Danielle Asher came over here this afternoon and we had a surprisingly civil conversation."

"What did you guys talk about?"

"Her and Cole, me and her, me and Gabriella."

"And she didn't try to kill you?"

"Nope."

"Wow."

"I know."

"So where do you and Danielle stand?"

"We aren't friends. We aren't enemies."

"What about you and Gabriella?"

"As far as I'm concerned, Gabriella hates me."

"She doesn't hate you. That's an exaggeration."

"She isn't talking to me. She doesn't want me contacting her. She doesn't want me around her."

"I don't think it's because she hates you."

"I complicate her life. I make her do things she isn't supposed to do."

"Gabriella can't place the blame entirely on you. She's equally guilty."

"Whatever. It doesn't matter who's guilty, who isn't guilty. Everything is out in the open. I just need to respect her wishes and leave her alone."

"What do you want to do?" Chad questioned.

"I just want to talk to her."

"Oh. I see the problem now. You want to talk, and she doesn't.

"Yeah."

"Well at least Gabriella didn't try to punch you to death." Chad said, trying to lighten the mood.

"How are you, man?"

"It's fine. Gabriella packs one hell of a punch, though."

"Obviously." Troy's phone rang. He grabbed it and answered. "Hello? Oh, hey dad...you know you're on a date with mom and you shouldn't be talking to me...wait, you're talking really fast...oh my God, is she okay? What happened? No, Yasmine is at Sharpay's house...I'm at home with Chad...yeah...I can meet you at the hospital...dad, I'll be there in 10 minutes...fine...bye." Troy hung up his phone.

"What's wrong?"

Troy turned to Chad, "My dad said he called an ambulance and they're taking my mom to the hospital."

* * *

Gabriella quietly crept up the steps to Troy's front door. She was going to his house at three in the morning and she didn't know if she was just sleep deprived or insane at this point.

She got a voice mail from Yasmine telling her to come over to her house. It definitely wasn't everyday a person called her phone at the wee hours of the morning.

Gabriella lifted up the small flower pot sitting in front of the door. Yasmine said there was an extra key under it for emergencies. She picked up the key and slipped it into the key-hole. The door opened and she quietly stepped inside.

She walked through the living room, and made it into the kitchen when she hit her thigh against a chair. She bit her lip to keep from screaming. Once she composed herself, she kept walking to Troy's room.

"Troy Bolton, you have a lot of balls!" Gabriella said walking into Troy's room. The room was dark, but the light in the bathroom was on.

Troy's voice came out of the bathroom, "Montez, why are you here?"

"I get a call from your sister telling me to come here, and I have no idea why. And if this is some lame attempt to get me to talk to you, I will be extremely-"

Troy walked out of his bathroom with a towel over his face. This first thing Gabriella noticed was that he didn't have a shirt on.

_Fucking fantastic_, Gabriella thought. _The universe must be screwing with me._ She watched as Troy threw the towel onto the counter in his bathroom. He walked into his bedroom, and turned on the small lamp on his nightstand. He had dark circles under his eyes and they were bloodshot.

"I didn't tell my sister to call you. Why would I have my 14 year old sister tell you to come over to my house at," Troy looked at his alarm clock, "three in the morning?" He sat down on his bed.

Gabriella shrugged, exasperated. "That's what I'm trying to figure out. She said I needed to talk to you. So what is so freaking important-"

"My mom's is in the hospital." Troy said cutting her off.

Gabriella opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. She suddenly felt like a total jerk for flying off the handle and being so mean.

She sat down on the bed and took a deep breath. "What's wrong?"

"She passed out at dinner with my dad tonight."

"Why did she pass out?" Gabriella asked.

"Dehydration. My dad said they found a tumor in her pancreas." Troy answered.

Gabriella's eye's widened. That really threw her for a loop."Oh my God."

"We didn't think anything about it, honestly. She was throwing up and she was feeling dizzy, so we kind of passed it off as a stomach bug. No one expected a fucking pancreatic tumor."

"When is she going to be released from the hospital?"

"Tomorrow. They want to keep her overnight and run some tests."

"Well, she's going to get the best care. And I'm not saying that because my parents work at the hospital."

"What if the tests come back and say that the tumor is cancerous, and it's fatal, and-"

Gabriella grabbed Troy's hand. "Hey, don't do that to yourself. Don't psyche yourself out. I'm sure your mom will be fine."

"What is she isn't?"

Gabriella frowned at the sound of Troy's voice. "Then, you deal with it. But don't count your mom out. Lucille Bolton is one tough cookie."

"She's my mom. She isn't supposed to get sick. She's supposed to take care of me and my siblings, and I know I sound selfish right now, but its how I feel."

"I don't blame you. No one wants their mother to be sick." Gabriella took her hand out of Troy's, and wiped a tear off of Troy's nose. "I'm sorry I was such a bitch to you. I was out of line. If you want me to go, I'll go." She stood up, but Troy grabbed her wrist.

"I don't want you to leave." Troy admitted, looking directly into Gabriella's eyes.

Gabriella sat back down next to Troy. "We can talk if you want to. We can sit in silence. You can scream, you can punch a wall. Or we can turn on the television and find an extremely crappy movie to watch."

Troy shook his head, "I don't want to talk about my mom, but nothing else is on my mind."

Gabriella nodded, "Fine, then. I'll talk."

And she did. She talked about her family, her friends, her life in Los Angeles, her first boyfriend, softball, her favorite television shows, movies, favorite athletes, favorite foods. She talked about her pet goldfish, Michael Phelps, who died a few years ago. She talked about how much she's always wanted a puppy, but her parents said no. Anything that came to her mind, she talked about. Anything to keep Troy's mind off of his mother.

By the time Gabriella ran out of things to say, three hours had passed. The sun was peaking in through Troy's blinds and birds were chirping.

"What time is it?" Troy asked, yawning. She put his head on Gabriella's shoulder.

"6:21."

"Wow. Time flies."

"It does."

Troy chuckled. Gabriella turned to his curiously. "It does." is not an amusing statement.

"Why are you laughing?" Gabrielle questioned.

"I'm just thinking about how crazy this day has been."

"Oh."

"Danielle came over here yesterday." Troy said.

Gabriella bit the inside of her cheek. Did Troy really expect her to reply enthusiastically to that? Woo-fucking-hoo.

"That's amazing." Gabrielle told him.

"She and I decided to be cordial from now on."

"That's good."

"Yeah."

"My mom sent me to therapy."

Troy let out another laugh, a genuine laugh. "What's wrong with you?"

"So much is wrong with me."

"We're extremely fucked up."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"Tahoe is in California and Nevada."

"I already knew that."

Troy turned his head, "I'm glad you came here."

Gabriella squeezed Troy's hand. "I'm glad I was able to help."

"You did."

Gabriella stood up, "I think I'm gonna go now. I need to go home and go to bed."

"Alright. Thank you for being here."

Gabriella honestly couldn't think of anywhere else she would be. "Of course. Tell your mom that I'll be thinking about her, okay?"

Troy nodded, "I will."

"I'll bake her something."

"If you are as bad a cook as you claim to be, then you don't need to bake her anything."

"You're probably right."

"There is no probably."

"Well I don't need you bagging on me."

Troy pulled Gabriella into a tight hug. It shocked Gabriella at first. She hadn't talked to Troy in over a week, much less touched him, but she eventually hugged him back.

After a few moments, Gabriella pulled away. "Bye, Troy."

"Bye."

Gabriella made her way out of Troy's room. She didn't know how to wrap her brain around anything that just happened.

Penelope told her to find something that scared her. Well, something about Troy Bolton _definitely_ scared her.

* * *

Aha! I bet everyone was expecting Danielle to come over to Troy's house and try to seduce him or something. But no! See? She can be a big person when she wants to be. Just don't get used to it. Well, until next time. Read, review, subscribe, read a magazine, eat a bowl of cereal, jump rope, high five a stranger. Enjoy your week! :)


	14. Making Dates

"Penelope, we need to talk!" Gabriella exclaimed, bursting into the doctor's office. "I feel like my-"

Her words fell short when she noticed a man sitting across from Penelope on her chaise lounge chair.

"Gabriella!"

Gabriella felt her cheeks burn. "I'm sorry. I'll just come back later."

"No, it's alright. Our session was just wrapping up. Why don't you just wait in the hall for a few minutes." Penelope suggested.

"Alright." Gabriella quickly shuffled out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

She sat down in a chair in the hall. The receptionist was glaring at her because she barged into Penelope's office. Gabriella glared back.

"Bitch." Gabriella muttered under her breath. She picked up a magazine. 'Parenthood Weekly' was in big, bold letters. She put the magazine down, and just decided to play with her hair.

A few minutes later, Penelope came out of her office, a man following her. "I'll see you next week, Samuel."

"Bye."

Gabriella smiled at the man as she stood up, "Have a nice day, sir."

"You too."

Penelope pointed to her open door, "Shall we?"

"Yes." Gabriella quickly walked into Penelope's office and plopped down onto the white chaise.

"It's a little shocking to see you here willingly." Penelope admitted, shutting the door behind her. She walked over to her chair and sat down. "Our last encounter wasn't so amazing, and we are supposed to meet on Fridays only."

Gabriella looked down at her shoes. "I know, but I need someone to talk to. I'm kind of a mess right now."

"Okay. What seems to be the problem?"

"I went over to Troy's house two nights ago. Well it was technically morning, so I went to Troy's house a few mornings ago."

"Really? What for?"

"His little sister called me, and told me to come over. When I got there, Troy was really upset."

"Why was he upset."

"It's really not my place to say. It's not my business."

Penelope nodded, "Alright, we don't have to talk about that."

"He and I ended up talking for three whole hours!"

"What did you two talk about?"

Gabriella shrugged, "It was nothing important. We talked about anything and everything random. I just wanted to cheer him up and kind of lift him out of his bad mood."

"How did it feel talking to him?" Penelope asked.

"It felt normal. It felt like we were never out of sync and we've always been talking. But it also felt awkward."

"Why?"

"Maybe because we hadn't talked for over a week. Maybe because the last time we saw each other, his girlfriend and I were fighting over him and screaming our faces off. Maybe because I may have admitted that I've had feelings for him for as long as I can remember. Or maybe it was because he didn't have a shirt on, I don't know."

"You planning on ignoring him some more?"

"I don't know."

"If Troy called you right now, what would you do?"

"I would probably answer."

"Really? A week ago, you probably would have ignored him, right?"

"That is correct."

"So you're making progress?"

"I guess you could say that, yes. But-"

Penelope shook her head. "Do you know you are your own worst enemy, Gabriella?"

"Excuse me?"

"It seems like you are always battling yourself. You keep yourself from doing a lot of things that you want to do in life. There is a wall blocking you, but you are that wall!"

"I am not my own worst enemy." Gabriella argued. "That's ridiculous."

"Ridiculously true. But, back to what we were talking about last time you were here. Your fears. What are you afraid of?"

"Oh, thunderstorms! I am extremely afraid of those. I have panic attacks, and my heart starts beating fast, and I feel like I'm going to die."

"We'll save that for another time, but let's go a little deeper than that."

Gabriella's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Deeper? Penelope, what could possibly be deeper than that?"

"Really go beyond the surface. What really, really scares you."

They sat in silence for a while. Gabriella was in deep thought, while Penelope sat watching her.

Gabriella sighed. This was hard. Therapy was harder than she thought it would be. It required so much effort from her. Thinking, deep soul searching, revisiting things she never wanted to.

"I guess, I'm afraid that one day, I'll wake up and realize that the past year and a half of my life has been one long dream. Or nightmare. I'll still be Danielle's fat, insecure, quiet, sidekick, already fifteen feet in the air when she says jump."

"Well, I can tell you right now that this isn't a dream of yours. That isn't going to happen to you."

"I just really don't want to be that girl again."

"Why not?"

"Because I hated myself. I hated my life, I hated the way I looked, the way Danielle would mock me." Gabriella closed her eyes and shook her head. She wasn't going to cry. "I can't be the old Gabriella again, I just can't."

"I don't see that girl that you talk about. Someone who is insecure, and quiet, and constantly needing someone else's approval. I'm pretty sure she isn't coming back."

"Sorry. I don't know why I get myself so worked up."

"It's alright, sweetheart. No need to apologize to me. This is all about you. Now, shall we continue?"

Gabriella nodded, "Yes."

"Good. Are there any other things you want to talk about?"

"I'm afraid of Troy."

"_You_ are afraid of _him_?"

"Not like I fear for my life type of afraid. Please, Troy is harmless. Afraid like-"

"You're in love with him." Penelope finished.

Gabriella's eyes widened. It felt like her throat was closing. Why on earth would Penelope even think of saying something like that?

"Penelope, I am not in love with Troy. Love is for, I don't know, people that are not Gabriella Montez."

Penelope nodded, despite not believing a word of what was coming out of the young girl's mouth. "Then how would you describe what you feel for Troy?"

"Very intense like. You just don't go out, throwing the word 'love' around all willy-nilly, especially for a girl who is turning 17 in a week."

"Why are you afraid of Troy?"

"I don't know. I guess getting close to him scares me."

"So you want to keep a safe distance?"

"Exactly! Now you're getting it."

"Gabriella, we're back to the you're your own worst enemy thing. People are scary, jobs are scary, life is scary. Things are not supposed to be easy at all. I'm afraid of a lot things, but I put my big girl panties on and deal. You've got to do that to. You need to decide if being scared and vulnerable will be worth it in the long run."

"You are so worth the money my parents pay you."

"Well, I try."

* * *

"Is your mother sleeping?"

Troy looked up from his phone, and directed his attention to his grandmother, Victoria, who was standing in the kitchen, cleaning.

"Yes, she is."

"Good. She needs all of her rest. But I don't know how she went to sleep after your brother made her that horrible soup. You Bolton men can not cook to save your lives."

"I take offense to that, grandma."

"Okay, you aren't absolutely horrible, but your brother is. And your father. And all of your uncles. I guess you're the exception to the rule."

"My friend Zeke can cook."

"Zeke. Zeke. Oh, he's the boy that made those pecan bars, right?"

"That's the one."

"Those were delicious."

"Yeah." Troy's phone beeped, and he grabbed it off of the kitchen counter.

_Gabriella: I'll be over in a few hours_

_Troy: For what?_

His phone beeped again.

_Gabriella: you're mom_

_Troy: ooh, such a smartass_

_Gabriella: I'm serious. I'm bringing something over for her_

_Troy: oh. Well, why don't u come over now_

_Gabriella: no_

_Troy: well, good 'cause I don't want u here._

_Gabriella: yes, you do. Because I'm amazing_

Troy chuckled softly at the message. His grandmother looked up at him, curiously.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing."

"Troy, you young people seem to forget how smart I am. It's something. Are you talking to your girlfriend? What's her name again?"

"Danielle." Troy sighed, "Actually grandma, Danielle and I broke up."

"Really?"

"Long story." Troy replied.

Victoria wiped her hands on a paper towel. "Long story is code for, 'I don't want to talk about, so let's just drop the subject.'."

"You are smarter than we give you credit for, grandma."

"I know this, honey." Victoria leaned up against the counter. "So if you aren't talking to Danielle, who are you talking to? Is it a girl?"

"It's a girl."

"Is she pretty?"

Troy smiled, "She's very pretty." He scrolled through the pictures on his cell phone to find a good picture of Gabriella. He found one of her, sitting on his living room floor, reading. She and Troy were supposed to be doing their English homework, but like always, Troy found a way to distract her. They ended up eating a carton of ice cream and watching a Law and Order: SVU marathon.

Troy gave the phone to his grandmother, "Oh, she's very pretty. What's her name?"

"Gabriella."

"Gabriella." Victoria repeated. "Are you guys dating now?"

"No, she's just my...friend." Friend sounded odd coming out of his mouth. He and Gabriella had crossed so many lines and overstepped boundaries that friends are not supposed to.

"Just friends?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Excuse me? I don't understand your question."

"Look, I can tell by the look on your face that you like this girl."

"Nothing gets past Victoria Bolton."

Victoria smiled, "Now you're staring to catch on. If only your grandpa could realize it."

"Okay, I don't want to talk about myself anymore." Troy said. "Did you know that Marcus has a girlfriend?"

"Does he?"

"Yup. Her name is Ashleigh and she goes to school with him."

"You want to go bug him about her?"

"Yes, I do."

"Great, me too. Let's go."

* * *

Gabriella rang the doorbell to Troy's house, and quickly grabbed on to the platter so she was holding so it wouldn't fall over. That would be extremely embarrassing, to come over to someone's house with a gift, and destroy it before you even step foot inside the house.

A woman answered the door and smiled at Gabriella, "Hello there."

"Hi. I'm Gabriella. Is Troy here?"

"Oh Gabriella! I'm Victoria, Troy's grandmother. It's so nice to meet you." Victoria pulled Gabriella inside of the house, and shut the door behind her.

"Nice to meet you, too."

"Troy, get in here!" Victoria took the platter out of Gabriella's hands. "Are these brownies?"

"Yeah, they are for Lucille."

"Oh. Lucille hates brownies." Victoria said.

Gabriella's face fell. She didn't know what to do. "Oh, well I guess I can-"

"I'm just teasing you, doll. Everyone loves brownies." Victoria said, laughing. "You're so adorable."

"Thank you."

Troy walked into the living room and saw Gabriella standing next to his grandmother. He smiled, "Hi!"

"Hi Troy." Gabriella greeted back.

Victoria held up the platter. "Well, I'll go put these in the kitchen." She walked out of the living room, leaving the two teens alone.

"Were those brownies?"

Gabriella nodded, "Yes, I made them." Troy stared at her skeptically. "Okay, my mom made them. But, I did stir the brownie mix, and I put them on the platter."

"I can't believe you went through all that trouble, algebra girl." Troy said, sarcastically.

"Well Lucille made me cookies when I was in the hospital, so I had to return the favor."

"Well she's sleep right now, but when she wakes up, I'm sure she'll call your mom and thank her."

"How is your mother?"

"She's fine right now. The doctors think she's going to be fine, but she is going to have surgery in a few weeks, and my grandmother came out here to help out."

"Your grandmother has a great sense of humor."

"Yeah, she's great. I'm glad she's here. My dad can not run this household the way my mother does. He'd lose his head if it wasn't attached to his body."

"Poor Jack. His son has no faith in him." Gabriella nudged Troy, playfully.

Troy turned to Gabriella, who was looking around the room. "Algebra girl."

"Yes, Troy?"

"What would you do if I asked you out right now?"

"I don't know." Gabriella laughed. "What would you do if your parents won the lottery?"

"Montez-"

"What would you do if an al-"

"Montez!" Gabriella flinched and turned to Troy.

"What?"

"I'm being serious."

"You are? You're asking me out?"

"I'm asking you out."

"Why?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you want to go out with me?

Troy gave Gabriella a blank look. "Why does anyone ask anyone out? It's because I like you."

"Give me one good reason as to why I should go out with you."

"Because it just makes sense. We know everything about each other, we always have fun when we're around each other, and I always pay for food when you come over, so it'll be nothing new."

Gabriella smirked, trying to remain cool despite the fact that she was shaking. She wanted to push Troy. "Those are your reasons?"

"And you like me."

"Who says I still do?"

"I know you do."

Gabriella scoffed, "You're so cocky, Bolton."

"It's a part of my charm."

Gabriella thought about what Penelope said to her yesterday. She leaned in to Troy. "Saturday. Pick me up at seven, nothing later. You're going to take me somewhere exciting. I don't want to do dinner and a movie, because it's cliché, and you and I have eaten enough in front of each other. And you're paying, of course."

"Yes, ma'am."

"I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Yes you will."

Gabriella walked out of Troy's house, trying to stop herself from jumping up and down in excitement. She had remain cool, at least until she made it to her car.

Once she did, she let out an excited scream. She was going on a date, with Troy. Troy Bolton. She was going on a date with Troy Bolton, and she wasn't dreaming. She pinched herself just to make sure.

Gabriella pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed Lola's number.

"Hey, Gabi!" Lola greeted, excitedly. "What's up, sister?"

"Lola when are you out of school?" Gabriella asked.

"My English Lit final is Friday at noon, and I will be back in Albuquerque, Friday night. Why?"

"You and I have some very serious wardrobe planning to do."

"What's the occasion?"

"I have a date."

"A date. A date with who?"

"Troy."

It was Lola's turn to scream in excitement. "Oh my God! Gabi!"

"I know. I know."

"Where are you right now?"

Gabriella realized she was still in Troy's driveway. Screaming, like an idiot. "His driveway."

"Creep."

"I'll call you when I get home, okay?"

"Okay. Talk to you soon." Lola hung up.

Gabriella sat her phone in her lap and put her key in the ignition, when her phone buzzed. Someone was calling her.

"Hello." Gabriella greeted after answering.

"Hey stalker. Get out of my driveway."

Gabriella smiled, "Troy, haven't you heard? Hanging out in people's driveways is my hobby."

"Weirdo."

"Keep insulting me. You'll be dateless on Saturday."

"Well, so will you."

"No I won't. I'll have your brother take me out."

"Ouch. That hurt."

"It was supposed to."

Troy laughed, "Alright, alright. Bye, algebra girl."

"Bye, Troy."

"But seriously, leave."

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "Goodbye."


	15. The First Date

"Do you have any idea as to what you are going to wear tonight?" Lola asked, pacing in front of Gabriella's walk-in closet. "You need to be elegant and casual, sexy but not too revealing, fun and-"

"Lo, you're making me nervous." Gabriella said, biting her thumb nail. "Extremely nervous."

"Well, where are you going?"

Gabriella shrugged, "I don't even know. I told him I wanted to go somewhere...not boring. No dinner and a movie. But it's a surprise."

"Well, fuck. You guys can go anywhere. He could take you to an art gallery opening in Santa Fe and you'd be wearing skinny jeans and a tube top."

"I can call and just ask him."

"No, you'd ruin the surprise."

Gabriella reached for her cell phone and dialed Troy's number. "I am not going to ruin the surprise. Have a little faith in me."

After a few rings, Troy answered. "Hi Montez." He greeted. "What's up."

"Hi. I have a question for you."

"I might have an answer for you."

Gabriella softly shook her head. "I would like to know how I should dress for our date. I don't need a ballgown or a cocktail dress, do I?"

"Nope. Stay casual."

"How casual?"

"Not sweatpants. Just jeans, a shirt, and all that other girly stuff you girls put on."

"Accessories." Gabriella informed.

"Yup. Those things."

"Would you like to tell me where we are going?" Gabriella asked.

"You'll find out tonight, algebra girl."

"That's no fun."

"I'll give you a hint. You better have really good coordination."

"What does that mean?"

Troy chuckled at the very obvious confusion in Gabriella's voice. "Figure it out. I'll see you at seven. Nothing later."

Gabriella sighed, dramatically, as if she was a young child who didn't get their way. "Fine. Bye." She hung up. "All I know is that I'm dressing casually. I got nothing else out of him."

"Well, now we can at least get your outfit together."

Gabriella checked the time on her alarm clock. "Lola, its noon. The date is in seven hours."

"I'm sorry, I'm just really excited for this. I'm excited for you."

"I'm excited for me, too, but I am going to sit down, relax, and wait until at least five before I start getting ready for the date." Gabriella laid back and sighed when her head hit the pillows.

"Alright." Lola laid down next to her sister.

"I think there is a Jersey Shore mara-" Gabriella stopped talking when she felt Lola scoot in closer to her. "My bed is big enough for two people to lay down, away from each other."

"I know."

"That was my nice way of saying get away from me." Gabriella added.

"Shut up. We're bonding right now."

"You are a dork."

"You love me anyway."

"Only by default."

* * *

"Hey guys, guess who has a date tonight?" Marcus asked, walking into the kitchen.

Lucille took a sip of tea. "Ashleigh lives in Albuquerque?"

Marcus shook his head. "Nope she lives in Tuscon. I have a date with a Round Table pizza and Netflix tonight."

Jack turned to his daughter and raised an eyebrow. "Yasmine?"

Yasmine scoffed, "Like I'd bring a guy around my father and two older brothers."

"Yasmine, you aren't allowed to date until Troy and I are dead. Then you have to wait five years to really make sure we're dead and gone." Marcus ordered. Troy nodded in agreement.

"I'm going to be staying home with Marcus."

"Well who has a date?"

"Mom, did you forget that you have another child?" Troy asked, pouting. "That stings."

"I could never forget you, honey. I just never would've thought that you would go on a date. But hey, I'm happy. You and Danielle were too serious with each other." Troy shook his head at the irony.

"Are you going out with that pretty girl who came over here a few days ago?" Victoria asked.

Lucille turned to Troy. "What girl?"

"Gabriella." Marcus answered.

"Marcus, she wasn't talking to you."

"Well I answered."

Lucille's eyes lit up. "You have a date with Gabriella? Really?"

"Don't have a heart attack ma, it's just one date."

Marcus rolled his green eyes and scoffed. "Sure it is. You're going to pretend like you aren't freaking out on the inside when we all know that you are."

"I'm not freaking out right now." Troy argued.

"Sweetie, your leg is bouncing." Victoria pointed out.

"I drank a few cups of coffee to finish writing my history paper."

"On?"

"Life in the early 1900s in New York City." Troy answered. "Three pages. Single spaced. Size 12 font. Guys, I'm not nervous about this date."

Yasmine smiled, "Well, I really don't believe you."

"I'm serious."

"Where are you taking her?" Lucille asked, leaning forward. "Are you taking her to dinner?"

"She said dinner was boring. I'm thinking of taking her ice skating or roller blading."

"Ice skating." Yasmine said. "Let's say she isn't good at that, and she'll have to hold your hand."

"Or you could push her down." Marcus added, grinning.

"Marcus, how do you have a girlfriend?"

"We don't go ice skating. We..." Marcus' voice trailed off. "We just don't go ice skating."

"You're still a jerk."

"You have to say that because I'm your older brother." Marcus ruffled Yasmine's blonde hair. She swatted his hand away. "I kinda have to be a jerk to you."

"No you don't."

"Yes, I do." Marcus wrapped his arms around his sister and pulled her into a hug. "But it's all out of love, Yas."

"Ugh! You are so annoying. And you are suffocating me!"

"Just shut up and let this happen. Your resistance just makes it worse."

* * *

Gabriella walked out of her bathroom, a big purple towel covering her head."Lola, what time is it?"

"5:17."

"Okay, I am not running late."

"You aren't going to dry your hair?"

Gabriella removed the towel from her head. "Nope, I'm letting it air dry."

"That'll take forever."

"My hair is naturally wavy and when I blow dry it, it gets frizzy. I don't want dry, frizzy hair on my date. And it won't take forever."

"Okay but when Troy gets here, don't freak out on me because your hair is damp."

"I'm not going to freak out on you."

Twenty minutes later, Gabriella was freaking out. Her closet was completely flipped upside down, her room was trashed and she was freaked.

"Hey, chica, what's wrong with you?" Lola asked.

"I have a white cashmere sweater, and I have no idea where it is."

"Oh. I might have it in my closet."

Gabriella smiled, ad got off of the floor. "Great."

"The closet in my dorm room." Lola added.

"In Los Angeles?"

"Yes."

"Lola! You can't just take my shit without asking."

"Relax."

"Don't tell me to relax. I can't relax! I had my entire outfit planned out. I was going to wear my black jeans, my white sweater, and red Steve Madden boots. Now I have to change my entire outfit."

"So, change it. I seriously doubt that Troy cares that you won't be wearing your white sweater."

"Lola, this is my first date with Troy. I have wanted to go on a date with him since middle school. Middle school!"

"Sorry."

"Not your fault. Oh wait, I take it back. It is your fault."

Lola got off of Gabriella's bed and walked over to her to her closet. "Well, it's time to change your outfit, so let's get to work."

"Yes. It's the least you can do."

* * *

Gabriella's door bell rang and she nearly flew to the door to answer it. Before she opened the door, she patted the top of her head to make sure her bun was still perfect. By the time she found a new outfit, she didn't have enough time to actually do her hair. It was good. She opened the door, and Troy was on the other side, holding a bouquet of flowers. Gabriella smiled. "Hi."

"Hi." Troy stepped inside and handed Gabriella the flowers. "These are for you."

"Thank you. You didn't have to do this."

"Yes I did. My mother would kill me if I wasn't a complete gentleman."

"I would put these in a vase, but I have no idea where my mother keeps them." Gabriella sat the flowers down on the coffee table. "I'll ask her about the vases later."

"Your parents aren't here?"

"My dad is at the country club with his friends, and my mom got called into work, so it's just me and Lola."

"Oh. Well are you ready to go?"

Gabriella nodded, "Yes."

They walked out of the house, and down the steps to Troy's car. It was freezing outside, so Gabriella practically ran to it and got inside.

"I didn't know we were racing." Troy said, chuckling once he got in the car.

"We weren't. I was just extremely cold."

"Oh."

"But if it was a race, I still would have beaten you."

"Yeah right, Montez." Troy pulled out of the driveway. "I would have left you in the dust."

"Okay, well you and I are going to race one day, Bolton."

"I'm pretty sure we can have a friendly competition when we get where we're going."

"Are you finally going to tell me where we are going?"

Troy shook his head. "Nope. You'll find out soon."

"How soon? Like five minutes? Ten? Fifteen?"

"Are you trying to measure the distance so you can guess?"

"No." Troy gave Gabriella a look. "Yes."

"Stop cheating."

"I'm sorry. I'm just extremely curious."

"Calm your curiosity down."

Gabriella sighed in defeat. "Fine. I quit."

"Thank you."

Gabriella turned on the radio and played with the dials, until she found a station. Let Me Love You by Ne-Yo was playing. "Oh, I love this song." She cleared her throat dramatically.

Troy turned to Gabriella. "Are you going to sing?"

"Yes."

"Oh good Lord."

"For your information, Bolton, I have the voice of an angel."

Troy scoffed, "Sure you-"

"Girl, let me love you. And I will love you, until you learn to love yourself." Gabriella sang. "Girl, let me love you. I know your troubled, don't be afraid. Girl, let me help."

Troy stared at Gabriella with an amused expression on her face. He quickly turned back to the road. "You're lucky, because if I wasn't driving, I'd be taping you, and you'd be on YouTube."

"Great! I love YouTube. The title of the video would be '_Girl With the Amazing Voice Sings Ne-Yo_.' And everyone would be like, "Oh my goodness! Why doesn't this girl have an album? Crappy singers gets albums and make millions of dollars, but not this golden-voiced gift from the heavens. What is wrong with the world?"

"You're funny."

"So I've been told. I've also been told that my singing abilities are freaking amazing."

Troy pulled off of the freeway. "I've been told a lot of things, algebra girl, and if I believed every word, the Tooth Fairy, Batman, and I would be writing letters to Santa."

"I feel like you're trying to say I can't sing."

Troy smiled, teasingly. "Those words never came out of my mouth. Interpret what I said however you want to."

"I will!" Gabriella laughed. "You believed in the Tooth Fairy?"

"When I was 5. I have obviously stopped believing in such childish things."

Gabriella looked outside of the window, "Are we almost there?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you have horrible patience?"

"Yes."

"We're almost there, I promise. A few more minutes."

"Yay!"

A few minutes later Troy pulled into a parking space. Gabriella looked at the window. "Outdoor Ice Skating."

"Ever been ice skating before?"

"Once. It didn't end so well."

"Oh? What happened?"

Gabriella unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the car. Troy followed suit. "I don't want to talk about it.

"Please?"

"No."

"I'll get it out of you, eventually."

"You won't."

* * *

"Yo, Montez. Montez. Gabriella!"

Gabriella's head turned around and her eyes landed on Troy's. "Did you call me Gabriella?"

"Yeah. Last time I checked, that was your name."

"I can probably count on one hand how many times you have called me Gabriella. I've gotten so used to algebra girl. Or Montez."

Troy pointed to the rink. "You going to get in? We've been standing here for three minutes." The two were standing on the outside of the rink.

"Troy, I have a fear of falling on my ass."

"Everyone falls on their ass. It's a part of the ice skating experience."

"And having someone skate over my fingers, slicing them off and leaving me to bleed to death." Gabriella continued.

Troy rolled his eyes at Gabriella's paranoia. He grabbed both of her hands and pulled her out onto the ice. "Now if you fall, I fall, but our hands are connected so no one will be able to skate over your fingers and slice them off."

"Okay." Gabriella took small baby steps. "I'm doing it."

"No, you're walking on ice. You need to skate."

Gabriella frowned, "This isn't good enough?"

"Sorry, doll face, it's not."

Gabriella's eyes landed on a young boy who was skating using the assistance of a walked. "I want one of those."

Troy shook his head. "No."

"No?"

"Those are for children. You're almost 17."

"I'm not legally an adult, so..."

"I am not going to get you one of those you scaredy cat."

Gabriella huffed, "Fine."

Troy led Gabriella over to the edge of the rink. He put her hands on the rail. "Keep your hands on this, and you will be fine."

"Alright."

"You good, Montez?"

"Yeah, I'm doing good." Gabriella slid her hands along the rail to keep herself propped up.

"Okay, tell me when you're ready to move into the middle of the rink."

"Oh, I'll probably never be ready."

"You can't stay on this forever."

"Why not?"

"Come on, we're going." Troy tugged onto Gabriella's elbow.

"No."

"You'll be fine. Just hold onto me."

Gabriella grabbed Troy's hand. "I was perfectly fine on the edge of the rink, but no. You remove me."

"If there are children in here skating, you can do it too."

"Troy-"

"Hey what do you want for your birthday?" Troy asked, changing the subject.

"What?"

"You're birthday is coming up. What do you want?"

"Oh, I already told you. Anything cupcake and Sephora related."

Troy nodded, and took his hand out of Gabriella's. "Alright. Well bye." He skated off.

"What-" Gabriella looked around and saw that she was standing in the middle of the ice. Troy was already back at the entrance. "Troy!" She yelled. "Get back here!"

"No! Come skate over to me!"

"I can't."

"You can. Just try."

Gabriella took tiny baby steps toward where Troy was. She was wobbly on her feet, and someone rammed into her, knocking her down on her butt. She heard Troy's booming laughter.

"This is your fault, Bolton."

"No, it isn't."

"Come get me, please."

"No."

Gabriella folded her arms over her chest. "Then I guess I'm going to stay here for the rest of my life."

Gabriella sat on the ice for a few moments before an employee skated over to her. "Miss, you can't sit on the ice."

"Well, I can't stand, and my date knows this, but he left me here. Someone knocked me down, and I can't get up. My date doesn't want to come get me, so I'm staying here."

"If you sit on the ice any longer, I'll have to ask you to leave."

Gabriella held out her hand. "Come lift me up, then."

The guy pulled Gabriella up and skated over to where Troy was standing. "Is this your date?"

Gabriella glared at Troy. "Sadly yes. Thank you for bringing me over here."

"You're welcome." The guy skated off.

Gabriella punched Troy's arm. "Thanks for leaving me stranded."

"You falling over, and stubbornly sitting on the ground was not part of the plan." Troy said, laughing.

Gabriella scraped her skate along the ice, creating a pile of crushed ice at her feet. She scooped it up and threw it at Troy.

"No throwing ice!" The guy who helped Gabriella warned.

"Sorry. Troy can just go sit down, maybe drink some hot choc-" Gabriella was cut off by the feeling of ice hitting her face. She gasped in shock. "Troy!"

"Sorry, my hand slipped."

"Sure, it was." Gabriella scooped up more ice and threw it at Troy. Before they knew it, they were having a full-blown fight.

A whistle was blown a few times, but neither one of stopped. Troy felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned around. "Yes?"

It was the same employee. He pointed at Troy and Gabriella. "You two have to leave."

"What? Why?"

"I told you to stop throwing the ice, and what do you guys do? Throw ice! Now leave."

Gabriella stepped off of the ice, "Fine, we'll go."

"This place sucks anyway." Troy added, putting his arm around Gabriella's shoulders.

"Yeah."

They both sat down to take off their skates. "That was a bust."

Gabriella touched the top of her head. "I have ice in my hair."

"I'm starving."

"Yeah, me too. _Not _ice skating really works up an appetite."

"There's a cheesesteak shop right across the street. Want one?"

"Yes! I want one with everything on it."

"Great."

* * *

Troy walked Gabriella up to her front door, and put his hands in his pockets, nervously. "Tonight was fun."

"It was fun."

"Despite the fact that you absolutely suck at ice skating."

"You weren't kidding when you said I needed good coordination."

"Which you obviously don't have."

"Don't tease me."

"One more question for the night?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"Would you object to me kissing you?"

Gabriella shrugged, "Why don't you try and find out."

Troy leaned down to give Gabriella a kiss. As soon as their lips were practically centimeters apart, Gabriella moved and put her lips near Troy's ear. "Sorry. I don't kiss on the first date."

"Serious?"

"Yeah."

"You're a tease, Montez."

Gabriella smirked, "I gotta keep you on your toes."

"So does this mean I get a second date?"

"Let's see how the rest of the week goes, and if you're lucky, yeah you get a second date."

"Next Saturday?"

"We'll see. Bye Troy." Gabriella opened the door and walked inside.

Troy smiled, and started walking back to his car. Gabriella Montez just might be the death of him.

* * *

Why hello there readers! Happy December. I hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving! It's a wonderful rainy day in Northern California(Note this sarcasm. Its been raining non stop all day and night. Not wonderful at all.), so I thought I would update since I have nothing else to do. Anyway have a nice day! Read and review! xD


	16. A Day At The Hospital

"This is so nice." Marcus said, resting his head on Lola's shoulder. "Just the 4 of us, hanging out. We should do this more often. But Lola and Gabriella aren't allowed to pick the movies because they pick stuff like this." He picked up the cover for the DVD, which read Dear John.

"Marcus, you talk a lot." Troy turned to his brother. "Have I ever told you that?"

"All the time, bro. But it's not like I'm gonna do anything about it."

"Most of your talking consists of mindless dribble because you like hearing the sound of your own voice." Troy added.

"I disagree. I think I make pretty intelligent statements."

Gabriella turned her head so she could look at Marcus. "Those are rare occasions."

"Okay, it's not fun when you all gang up on me."

Troy rolled his eyes, "No one is ganging up on you. We just think that you talk a lot. Which you do. And most of what you say has little to no relevance to anything."

Marcus huffed in frustration. He got off of the couch and started walking towards the kitchen. "I'm making food."

Lola stood up as well, "I'll go with you."

"No, you made of me. I don't want you with me."

"You act like I care about what you say."

The pair was soon out of sight, and Troy and Gabriella were the only two left in the room.

Gabriella turned her body and put her head in Troy's lap. Troy looked down at her. "Hi."

"Hi." Gabriella greeted back.

"I got asked an interesting question yesterday." Troy said.

"What?"

"Someone asked me if you and I were together."

"Who asked?"

"Some kid at school." Troy answered.

"Why would they ask you a question like that?"

Troy shrugged, "I don't know. The girl said that she's seen us around and we look like a couple."

"We look like a couple? What?" She didn't really notice a shift at all between the two them. They still acted the same. And it's not like people saw them making out in public. She absolutely despised PDA. "How?"

"Beats me."

"What did you tell this girl?" Gabriella was actually curious as to what Troy would say. They hadn't discussed their relationship status, and now people were asking about it.

"I laughed a bit, shrugged, and I walked away."

"How diplomatic of you."

"Well I try."

"So are we a couple?"

"I think we are?"

Gabriella sat up and faced Troy, "Really?"

"Yeah. What are we, glorified friends with benefits?"

"That would mean I'm sleeping with you."

"Which you already did."

"Past tense. It's not happening again."

"Like ever?"

"Troy! I'm gonna hit you."

"Sorry, algebra girl. But yeah, I think your my girlfriend."

"Is this your way of asking me to be your girlfriend? Because if it is, then you can kiss my ass."

Troy smiled, "Feisty. Gabriella Montez, would you like to be my girlfriend?"

"Yes."

"Okay then. Should we shake on it?"

Gabriella scrunched up her nose, "Have you ever asked someone to be your girlfriend before?"

"No. Danielle asked me out and then said I was her boyfriend. As you know, she has a strong personality and I just went along with it."

"It's not a business deal, we don't shake hands."

"I'm sorry. I'll know that for next time."

"Next time?" Gabriella raised one of her eyebrows. "You plan on getting another girlfriend?"

Troy opened his mouth to say something but closed it quickly. He looked down, "I plead the fifth."

"That's the smartest thing you've said."

"You're so sweet when you're giving me backhanded compliments."

"I'm sweet all the time."

"I wouldn't go that far, algebra girl."

"I would."

Troy rolled his eyes, "I wouldn't."

Gabriella put her head back in Troy's lap. "Stop talking, Bolton."

"My mom is supposed to be having her surgery tomorrow morning."

"What time?"

"It starts at seven in the morning."

"I'll be at the hospital then." Gabriella said.

"You don't have to do that."

"Yes I do. I plan on brining her the best bouquet of flowers I can find. Like bigger than my head."

"Oh Montez."

"You think I'm exaggerating?"

"Yes, I do."

"I'm not. What kind of flowers is your mother interested in?"

"My dad is always buying her roses."

"Roses. Any color?"

"Anything bright would suffice."

"My favorite flower is the tulip. Black ones. Technically, they are really really dark purple, though. I know that they are dark and all, but I think they're gorgeous. They symbolize strength."

"I think they suit you."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I think you're one of the strongest people I know."

Gabriella smiled, "But back to the subject of your mother, she wants flowers. Bright, vibrant flowers."

"Yes. If you get her enough, she'll put some in everyone's rooms. How many 17 year olds guys do you know have flowers vases in their rooms?"

"Only you."

"Yeah, so don't bring too many. My room will smell like its been doused with Febreeze and potpourri."

"I like the way your room smells." Gabriella said. His room always smelled like clean laundry and of course, fresh flowers.

"Good. You're the only one I'm trying to impress."

"I better be."

Troy grabbed Gabriella's face and gave her a quick kiss. "You are."

"Because I can kick your ass."

"I have no doubt that you can, Montez."

"Now that we're dating, promise me that we won't start wearing matching sweatshirts, and that I don't have to change my last name on Facebook to Bolton. Because I make fun of couples that do that."

"Oh we won't."

* * *

"I'm nervous and Lucille isn't even my mother." Gabriella said, carrying a tray of coffee cups into the hospital, Lola trailing a few steps behind her.

"Probably because you're nice and you care."

"I can't even imagine how the guys feel."

"Marcus is really nervous. I talked to him this earlier this morning. But he's Marcus, so he's going to look calm, cool, and collected on the outside."

"Yeah, I know him."

They found the waiting area where the Bolton clan was. And it was extremely packed. Besides Troy's immediate family, there had to be at least 5 other people there waiting.

Troy looked up and saw Gabriella standing in front of him, "Hi!"

"Hi." Gabriella gently set the tray down on a table that was next to Troy's seat. She pulled out a coffee cup and handed it to him. "For you."

"Thanks."

Gabriella handed the remaining cups to Jack, Marcus, and Victoria, who called her a God send for the caffeine.

A woman, who looked to be the same age at Victoria, cleared her throat and looked at Gabriella politely. She then looked to Troy, "Sweetheart, why don't you introduce us to your friends."

"Oh sorry! This is Gabriella and her sister, Lola. Guys, I this is my other grandmother, Martha, my aunts Katherine and Helen, and my uncle Sean."

Gabriella smiled, "Nice to meet you all."

"Gabriella's parents are doctors and they work here." Troy said.

"Oh really?"

Gabriella nodded, "Yes. My mom is a surgeon."

"Will she be doing my daughter's surgery?" Martha asked.

"Oh no. My mom is an orthopedic surgeon, so she focuses on muscles and joints. But I think my father is working with this surgery."

"Well, what do your father do? Is he also a surgeon?"

"No, he's an anesthesiologist. He's going to be administering the anesthesia for the procedure then he's going to be watching Lucille to make sure she's okay. He's really good at this job though. He's been doing it since he was 31 years old."

"How old is he now?"

"48."

"Good luck to him anyway."

Troy moved his eyes and focused in on the extremely large bouquet of yellow and pink roses that Lola was holding. Gabriella wasn't kidding when she said the bouquet was going to be bigger than her head.

Gabriella followed Troy's eyes and smiled, "I told you I was going to get the best, biggest bouquet I could find."

"You really went all out."

"It's the least I could do. Your mother is one of the nicest people know. And she made my cookies when I was in the hospital, so I have to return the favor."

Troy chuckled, "She's going to love them."

"I hope so." Gabriella looked around the waiting room. "So how long is the surgery going to take?"

"Six hours. Give or take a few. We're going to be here for a while."

"Okay." Gabriella grabbed her bag and pulled out a big ball of yarn and a crochet hook. "Good thing I have something to keep me busy."

"You crochet?"

"Yeah."

"Since when?"

"Few weeks ago. It's supposed to be a stress reliever and nothing is more stressful than being in the hospital. By the time I'm done, everyone on this floor will have socks made by a 17 year old girl."

"I want mine to be blue, Gabriella." Marcus joked.

"I was thinking bright pink." Gabriella shot back.

Marcus flashed her a smile. He was glad that she was a quick thinker. "No thanks."

"Aw, Marcus. You're no fun."

"I'm nothing but fun."

"You're nothing but irritating." Lola corrected.

"I agree." Troy said.

"You guys are doing that thing where you gang up on me again."

Lola rolled her eyes, "You're so dramatic."

/

Hours went by. Marcus had fallen asleep on Lola's shoulder, Troy had walked up and down the hallways about 20 times, the rest Troy's family was scattered throughout the hospital, and Gabriella made 7 hats in the span of 5 hours.

"Your hands aren't cramped up yet?" Lola asked looking at her sister.

"Nope. I think I'm on a roll right now."

"You aren't running out of yarn?"

"I have three more balls of yarn in this bag." Gabriella replied.

"You're insane."

Gabriella sighed heavily, "Lola, you're throwing me off."

"Sorry."

Troy put his head on Gabriella's shoulder. He then removed his head and shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

Gabriella stuck her crochet hook into the yarn and stuffed it in her bag. She stood up. "Troy."

Troy looked up, "Yeah?"

"Come walk with me."

"Why don't we just stay here?"

"We're going. Get up." Gabriella ordered.

"Do I have a choice?" Troy asked.

"No."

Troy stubbornly stood up and joined Gabriella's side. They started walking in silence. Troy didn't really have much to say and Gabriella didn't know what to say.

"Did you want to go to the cafeteria or something?"

"Nope. I thought you could use this walk. You looked like a caged animal sitting in that chair."

"Really?" Gabriella nodded. "I didn't even notice."

"I know what stressed out looks like, Troy."

"Yeah, I'm a bit nervous."

"A bit?"

"Okay, I'm a lot nervous."

"That sounds more accurate, Bolton."

"I don't like the fact that my mom is getting cut and people are messing with her organs."

"Your mother is going to be fine." Gabriella said, not an ounce of doubt in her voice.

"You're so sure about that."

"Of course I am. I wouldn't be surprised if your mother woke up, and told you to fold your laundry and wash the dishes."

Troy chuckled softly, "That sounds like my mother. But my house is pretty spotless because my grandmother cleans every day."

"Every day?"

"Yeah. She doesn't think a sick person should be around any dirt. You saw my house yesterday."

"Yeah it was clean, but I didn't think-"

"That my grandmother went all psycho OCD." Troy finished.

"Exactly."

"It think it'll pass once my mother is feeling better. She's stress cleaning."

"But every day? That's a bit much."

"Trust me, I know."

Gabriella grabbed Troy's hand and gave it a squeeze. "If you ever want to get away, you can come to my house and you can order me a pizza."

"Me? I have to buy the pizza at your house?"

"Why would I make you stop buying me the food? What sense does that make, Troy?"

"But I would be the guest in your house."

"So?"

"You're crazy, you know that?"

"I know. And that's why you date me."

Troy wrapped his arms around Gabriella and pulled her in to him. Gabriella quickly returned the hug.

On the other end of the hall, Danielle walked out of her dad's office and quietly closed the door behind her. It was her dad's first day back at work since his heart attack and she wanted to visit him.

She hoisted her bag up on her shoulder and turned around when she saw Troy and Gabriella down the hall, hugging.

For some unknown reason to Danielle, her stomach clenched. She shook her head, closed her eyes and quickly re-opened them. She continued to look at the pair as they embraced.

She ran a hand through her blonde hair and a soft sigh escaped her lips. She turned on her heel and started walking away before they could see her.

Gabriella could've swore she heard heels clicking against the hard tile floor. She also thought that she saw blonde hair out of the corner of her eye.

"Did you see someone?" She asked, standing on her tippy toes and peering over Troy's shoulder.

Troy shook his head, "No. Did you?"

"I thought I saw someone over her."

"You need sleep because you're hallucinating."

"If you say so, Bolton."

"Let's go back."

"Why don't we go to Starbucks?" Gabriella suggested, yawning. "I need coffee right now and I've been to this hospital enough times to know that it sucks here."

"You already had coffee."

"I don't see your point."

"You're addicted."

"I am not."

Troy slung his arm around Gabriella, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

* * *

"Today was one of the longest days I've ever experienced." Lola groaned, slumping down on her living room couch.

Gabriella got down next to her, "I can name a few other days that were more exhausting than this one, but it was long too."

Lola put her feet in Gabriella's lap, "I'm so tired. I can't feel my butt, my back is killing me, and I have a pain in my shoulder because Marcus fell asleep on it."

"I'm sorry, but that does not mean that you can put your feet on me."

"Come on, I'm your big sister."

"I don't care."

"That's so mean."

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "That's life."

"Have you talked to Troy?"

"Not since we left the hospital."

"You guys aren't going to be one of those couples who is in constant contact with each other?"

"That sounds so exhausting." Gabriella complained. "We would get so annoyed with each other."

"For someone who has wanted to be Troy's girlfriend for about 2 years, you are extremely calm about this."

"I am just really good at masking my emotion. On the inside, I am going crazy. It's the good kind of crazy, though. Not the psychopathic kind."

Lola shrugged, "I think you could pull off the psychopathic kind."

"I think in some ways I already have and I can't pull it off. It was a mess."

"I'm glad that you're the good kind of crazy. In glad that you're happy."

"Me too." Gabriella nudged Lola's foot. "Now we have to get you a boyfriend."

Lola scoffed, "Oh no. Babysitting the 19 year old man-boy that is Marcus Bolton is enough for me at the moment."

"You guys should just get married and be best friends for life."

"I would end up killing him. Besides, I don't think his girlfriend would like that."

Gabriella pushed Lola's feet off of her. She stood up, "I'm going to bed."

"No." Lola held out her arms,"Help me upstairs."

"No."

"Please?" Lola begged.

"If you had a boyfriend, he would pull you up, but all you have is a man-boy best friend." Gabriella walked up to the staircase and climbed the steps two at a time. "Goodnight!"

"You suck."

"I love you, too Lo."


End file.
